AFC Notes: Dolphins, Mike Gesicki, Tyreek Hill, Jets, Patriots

Dolphins

Dolphins TE coach Jon Embree isn’t concerned about outside criticism of how they are using TE Mike Gesicki and is confident in their game plan for him. 

“We’re trying to win a Super Bowl,” Embree said, via Hal Habib of The Palm Beach Post. “We’re not trying to win the fantasy league title.”

Embree mentioned that TE Durham Smith is doing well as a run blocker and in the passing game. 

“Durham has given us an opportunity to get the ball in the perimeter,” Embree said. “I think he’s doing a good job with the run game. And he’s showing up in the pass game as well when he’s getting his opps.”

Embree added that Smith provides “a little more” as a run blocker than Gesicki and Miami is intent on being a “run-first team.”

“Durham gives us a little more in the run game. And you know we want to be a run-first team.”

Jets

There was a strong possibility that Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill could have wound up in the Big Apple with the Jets when trying to secure a trade from the Chiefs. 

“It was very close to happening, but it was just those state taxes, man,” Hill said, via Rich Cimini of ESPN. “I realized I had to make a grown-up decision, and here I am in a great city in Miami.”

Jets HC Robert Saleh and GM Joe Douglas also commented on the potential deal, as did Hill’s agent Drew Rosenhaus.

“Sure, we would’ve loved to have had him here, but I think things happen for a reason,” Saleh said.

“We knew it was going to be an uphill battle, but we wanted to make a really strong offer to try to convince the player and the agent that this was a good place to be,” Douglas said.

“It was a very realistic possibility,” Rosenhaus told Cimini. “Tyreek was interested and heard a lot of good things about the coaching staff and the direction the team was heading,” Rosenhaus said. “… We really felt like — myself and Tyreek and his family — that New York would be a great fit for him. Obviously, they needed at the time another big playmaker and a signature player. He would’ve been the face of the franchise, which was appealing. So there were a lot of things that were exciting about it. Ultimately, what it boiled down to was a close call.”

In the long run, the Jets ended up drafting WR Garrett Wilson out of Ohio State in the first round of the 2022 draft. Willson knows he isn’t at Hill’s level but is hoping that he is able to prove himself to the team’s fans.

“Hopefully, over these next few years, I can prove they did make the right decision,” Wilson told ESPN. “That comes with time. Those are proven vets that go in and out every week and do it. I hold myself to a high standard. I’m not going to say I feel like those dudes are better than me or vice versa. At the end of the day, I know what I bring to the table.”

“He’s a little bit different; he runs by everybody,” Wilson said of Hill. “That’s not me. I just can’t run by everybody. He’s a special talent.”

Patriots

Patriots HC Bill Belichick had high praise of first-round G Cole Strange for improving each week and being able to process information at a high level. 

“Cole’s given us a good level of play all year,” Belichick said, via Chad Graff of The Athletic. “He gets better every week, gets better every day. (He’s a) smart kid, has learned a lot and is able to process a lot more on a weekly basis and certainly over the couple months that we’ve been here, August and September. That’s a lot of snaps, a lot of days, a lot of meetings, a lot of practices. He’s absorbed a lot of information and processed it well. Like every young player, (he) has a long way to go, but he’s gaining ground.”