Dolphins
Dolphins DT Davon Godchaux doesn’t view his upcoming contract year as being any more important than a normal season.
“I don’t look at it as a big year, contract year,” said Godchaux via Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. “Every year is a big year because it’s the next year. Each game I take the same approach. That takes pressure off me. I don’t think fourth year, end of my contract, I have to have a big year. I want to elevate my play… If I take that approach, I think I’ll be good.”
Jets
Jets EDGE Tarell Basham tells JetsWire.com that he’s ready to make a name for himself in 2020.
“I want a sack and a half a game. Who wouldn’t want to at least get a sack and a half a game?” Basham said. “But, I have way more team goals than I do individual ones. You as individuals can win as the team wins.”
Basham believes he can have an impact no matter where he lines up.
“I just see myself as a destructive guy on that line regardless of where I line up,” Basham said. “That’s definitely the calling card for coach [Gregg] Williams. If you’re playing in his box, if you’re in his defense and you’re in the box, you’ve got to be able to play more than one position.”
Patriots
ESPN’s Adam Schefter explained during an appearance on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” that the penalties handed down by the NFL for the Patriots filming the Bengals’ sideline last year had more to do with their history of transgressions, than the actual incident itself.
“It does seem steep, but I would say this, No. 1, the Patriots admitted that there was a transgression and No. 2, there was a history,” Schefter said. “Even though it might seem severe and steep, the NFL has to send a message that even with the Patriots, a team that [they’ve had some good, close relationships over time — everyone knows Roger Goodell and Robert Kraft have had a good relationship — we’re going to impose punishment as we see fit.
“And in this particular case, the Patriots admitted it, everyone saw the tape, knew something happened, there was previous history. I think if there’s no history maybe it just goes away — it’s not a team like the Patriots that has got the attention it has, maybe it just goes away. But because it’s the Patriots, because they have been in the spotlight, because they have had the history, because there’s so much attention on it, there we go, there’s the third-round pick.”
- Ben Volin of the Boston Globe theorizes that the NFL worked with the Patriots on the release of the punishment in order to soften the media blow.
- Volin says there’s no reason the investigation should have taken six months to wrap up and that the timing of the penalties being announced after the Patriots signed QB Cam Newton seems like more than a coincidence.
- Jason La Canfora reports that Newton’s contract with the Patriots is a one-year deal worth $1.05 million and includes just $550,000 guaranteed at signing.
- According to La Canfora, Newton can earn $6.45 million by reaching incentives and per-game roster bonuses.
- The contract does not include a clause to prevent the Patriots from franchising him in 2021.
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