AFC Notes: Drake Maye, Jaylen Waddle, Dolphins, Jets, Patriots

Dolphins

• Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk reports Dolphins WR Jaylen Waddle‘s three-year, $84.75 million deal includes an $18.873 million signing bonus, his $1.055 million salary in 2024 is fully guaranteed, $16.050 million 2025 salary is fully guaranteed, $16.631 million 2026 salary is guaranteed for injury at signing and fully guaranteed in March 2025, his $23.39 million 2027 salary is guaranteed for injury at signing while $15.2 million becomes guaranteed in March 2026 and the remainder becomes fully guaranteed in March 2027. He’ll also make a non-guaranteed $25.764 million salary in 2028. 
• Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel is staying out of contract negotiations, including with WR Tyreek Hill: “Tyreek Hill has been unbelievably helpful to my coaching career, to this franchise … As a leader, he is tremendously important.” (Marcel Louis-Jacques)
• Hill commented on his contract situation: “I’m going to let my agent take care of it. I want to be able to help the team as much as I can.” (Joe Schad)
• While he wants to earn his value, Hill will prioritize retiring a Dolphin over maximizing his career earnings. (Adam Beasley)
• Hill on the team’s negotiations with QB Tua Tagovailoa: “Tua should’ve been paid — I’ve been saying this the whole time. I know we’ve got a great front office … they’re going to take care of him.” (Louis-Jacques)
• Tagovailoa noted they have had progress on a deal: “We’re trying to move that thing into the right direction so we can both be happy.” (Schad)
• Tagovailoa also said it’s difficult to separate the business and personal side of the talks and categorized the talks as antsy. (Schad)

Jets

• Jets HC Robert Saleh mentioned RB Breece Hall is “dealing with some lower half stuff” but they aren’t concerned about it. (Zack Rosenblatt)
• New York DE Haason Reddick hasn’t been present for any voluntary workouts and Saleh isn’t sure why. (Rosenblatt)
• Saleh on Reddick’s absence: “I’m focused on the guys who are here and Haason’s a pro. He’s been in this league a while. He’s produced it at a very high level for a long time. He’s got his routine and if it makes people feel better, we know where he’s at, we know what he’s doing and we know he’s working his tail off to get where he needs to get you to have a productive ’24 season.” (Rich Cimini)
• Jets WR coach Shawn Jefferson praised WR Allen Lazard for his veteran leadership in the meeting rooms: “Since I’ve been here, he’s (Lazard) been like a second coach in the room.” (Rosenblatt)

Patriots

The Patriots overhauled their QB room by trading Mac Jones, signing Jacoby Brissett, and adding first-rounder Drake Maye in the draft. New England HC Jerod Mayo thinks QB Bailey Zappe can be helpful in competition and loves how the room shapes up. 

“We drafted two quarterbacks, obviously he is going to be competing with those guys, but at the same time, he is an open book. He is a resource,” Mayo said, via ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “You want to have a strong room. I would say the way it looks now, we have a very strong room.”

• Patriots OC Alex Van Pelt stated Brissett is the starter for now and “there’s no timeline” for when Maye will become the starter. (Chad Graff)