AFC Notes: Drake Maye, Allen Lazard, Dolphins, Jets, Patriots

Dolphins

Dolphins S Jevon Holland has loved the change to DC Anthony Weaver and implied he wasn’t the biggest fan of former DC Vic Fangio.

“Actually, ‘Weav’ is super dope, man,” Holland said, via Hal Habib of the Palm Beach Post. “Like as a person, as an ex-player, as a coach. You can just feel he understands where we’re coming from. He wants to hear us in our input on the defense and then is able to put that into how the defense is called and how the defense is taught. So now he’s great, man.”

“I just think that it’s the fact that he’s a good person makes a difference.”

Jets

Jets HC Robert Saleh said WR Allen Lazard is having a productive offseason and showed up to minicamp in “tremendous shape.”

“I feel like Allen has come in with a renewed mindset,” Saleh said, via Ethan Greenberg of the team’s site. “I think he’s attacked the heck out of the offseason. He’s showed up in tremendous shape. He’s like a second coach on the field and in that receiver room. He’s been awesome, so I’m grateful that he’s here. I think he’s going to have a really nice bounce back year.”

Saleh said their offense is showing better communication, route-running, and blocking schemes. 

“This year there is a lot more communication, a lot more fixing on the fly, players communicating with players. So in that regard from an offensive standpoint, we’re playing a lot faster, much more decisive, we’re in and out of the huddle where the operation is a lot cleaner. The route running is a lot crisper, the O-line blocking schemes are more defined. It’s been fun to watch and to go through, so that is much improved.”

Patriots

The Patriots’ selection of QB Drake Maye with the No. 3 overall pick has parallels to when New England used the No. 1 pick on QB Drew Bledsoe in 1993. Bledsoe started from the jump and took plenty of lumps in a 5-11 season, but the Patriots were in the Super Bowl the following year. It’s an open question about whether the Patriots will take a similar approach with Maye or give him time on the bench first. 

“It’s different in that the Patriots never really had a ton of success [when I got there]. They went to the one Super Bowl [in 1985], but other than that had not been consistently relevant. Whereas it wasn’t that long ago that they were running the world, so there still is a lingering level of expectation that exists from all that success. That part is a little bit different. But shoot, they earned the right to pick where they picked; it wasn’t much to look at last year, that’s for sure,” he said via ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “You have the new coaching staff and new rookie quarterback coming in, so there are also some obvious parallels for sure. I don’t think it’s crazy at all. Now it will be super interesting to see where it goes from here, whether they can rebuild that championship culture and start to rise again.”