AFC Notes: Dolphins, Jets, Patriots

Dolphins

Dolphins Co-OC Eric Studesville was surprised that HC Mike McDaniel decided to retain him, and said that he would do whatever he could to reward McDaniel’s confidence in him.

“Yeah, I was surprised, but grateful for the opportunity to be part of this,” Studesville said, via Miami Herald. “I hope I prove my worth to him going forward every day that he’s glad he gave me that opportunity and I reward him with production in that room…. You are going to find out he’s a smart guy.”

Dolphins DC Josh Boyer, who was also retained by McDaniel, expressed gratitude for being retained and was also excited about the staff the team had put together.

“I feel very fortunate for the opportunity to be here,” Boyer said. “I’m very excited to work with Mike. Him and I have had many conversations. Very excited about the staff we’ve put together here.”

Boyer declined to go into specifics regarding former DB coach Gerald Alexander‘s dismissal and whether there were philosophical disagreements between them.

“You would have to ask him that,” he said. “The most important thing on the staff was cohesion and once we make decisions, we are going to live with it. And to make sure once we make those decisions we’re all on the same page…”

Boyer offered some insight into how different the defense would look without former HC Brian Flores around.

“We spent 13 years together in New England coming up through the same system,” Boyer said. “Flo worked on special teams, offense. We had a little bit of different perspective. He played linebacker, coached linebackers. I’ve always been on the back end. I see things from the back end down. I see the game a little bit different than what he was doing for 13 years.”

Boyer made clear that Flores was involved in the game-planning, but it was he that called the plays on defense, and emphasized the importance of position coaches.

“This was the same in New England and Miami,” Boyer said. “What you do as a staff, and this is why you have staffs, you come together with a game plan. A lot of guys have input on that. It’s not like there’s one mastermind sitting behind the curtain saying we’re going to do this. That’s why you have position coaches. They know their guys better than anyone on the field. As a staff, you come up with a game plan. When it comes to Saturday, you spend all day going through game plan situations and stuff and you talk about that with the staff. We had a defensive head coach last year so he would have been involved in that game planning. When I was at New England, we had a defensive head coach [Bill Belichick] and he was involved in that game planning.”

Jets

• When taking a look at potential cap casualties, Connor Hughes of The Athletic writes that G Greg Van Roten carries a cap figure of $3.5 million and the Jets could likely find his replacement in the middle- to late rounds of the 2022 NFL Draft. 
• Hughes also names TE Ryan Griffin, DL Sheldon Rankins, and C Connor McGovern as three potential cuts to keep an eye on. 

Patriots

• PFF’s Doug Kyed says it’s unclear how the Patriots will proceed with CB J.C. Jackson, adding that any decision could come down to the tag deadline on March 8th.
• Per Zack Cox of NESN.com, Patriots WR Jakobi Meyers said he “definitely” wants to return next season. The team currently has the ability to tender Meyers at a first-round, second-round, or right-of-first-refusal level.
• When taking a look at potential cap casualties, Jeff Howe of The Athletic writes that DL Henry Anderson carries a figure of $3.7 million for 2022. 
• Howe also points out that the Patriots could save $7 million by trading RG Shaq Mason.
• Howe names WR N’Keal Harry and CB Joejuan Williams as two more potential cuts to keep an eye on.