AFC Notes: Davante Adams, Josh Allen, Joe Milton, Bills, Jets, Patriots

Bills

Bills HC Sean McDermott said QB Josh Allen‘s MVP in 2024 validates him as one of the game’s best quarterbacks.

“It validates everything that he’s been doing for years,” McDermott said, via Around The NFL. “It validates his leadership this year, the way he’s played on the field this season, the way he’s matured off the field, on the field. His decision making and how that’s improved. All these areas that were perceived — call it, gaps — Josh has answered those gaps and he’s closed those gaps. When you do that at the level that he did it at on a consistent basis, the result was the MVP. So, to me, as I said during the year, later in the year in particular, he deserved that.”

McDermott said that WR Keon Coleman had his moments during his rookie season and is looking for consistency entering his second season.

“I thought he had an up-and-down first season, I really do,” McDermott said of Coleman. “I mentioned that after the year. I thought he got off to a start that he built momentum through, and then he got injured, and then from there on it was rather rocky, I would say. We’re looking for him to learn from those moments of adversity and come back and have a really, really, really strong offseason and get himself going into the start of season two here.”

McDermott said that Coleman’s first off-season in an NFL program will prove whether or not he’s ready to take a second-year jump.

“You have to stay urgent, you have to stay on the gas, or this league will eat you up,” he said. “Whether you’re a player, coach, whatever it is. And that takes a certain type of person with a certain drive and determination and fire in their heart, and it’s gonna be Keon’s turn to show that he has that this offseason.”

McDermott added that building up TE Dalton Kincaid in order to keep him from getting injured will be something the team emphasizes this off-season.

“He’s been hurt a little bit in Year 1 and then again in Year 2,” McDermott said. “So, the most important thing that we need to do and we need to help him with and he needs to do, as well, in taking the lead on this, is getting stronger and more durable for us to be out there even more. I don’t question his ability. It’s just can he get strong enough from a play-strength standpoint to help us every week of the season, and in particular in the playoffs when we need him the most?”

Jets

• Connor Hughes expects that the Jets will move on from WR Allen Lazard now that they are fielding trade calls and could possibly release WR Davante Adams. 
• Hughes also doesn’t see the Jets trading up for the first pick in order to draft a quarterback, and that options including Justin Fields, Carson Wentz, Marcus Mariota, a Day 2 rookie, and Tyrod Taylor are more likely. 
• Hughes adds that any conversations about trading up are likely due diligence at this time rather than a sign of an impending deal.

Patriots

Some have floated the idea that New England could move QB Joe Milton after he showed some flashes in the final game of the season. Patriots’ new HC Mike Vrabel isn’t ready to have discussions about trading players, but will entertain all options to improve the team. 

“I think it’s a little early to have that conversation right now as far as trading players,” Vrabel said, via Mark Daniels of Mass Live. “I would say that anything that we could do within reason to strengthen our roster we would have to entertain – outside of I would say of a few players.”