AFC Notes: Drake Maye, La’el Collins, Bills, Jets, Patriots

Bills

Bills T La’el Collins was dealing with a severe knee injury at the end of 2022 and felt like he wasn’t mentally ready after returning to full health. He now says he is ready to go after a positive offseason with the Bills. 

“They brought me here to play football and I came here to dominate and I’m going to let everything else take care of itself,” Collins said, via Jonathan Acosta of WGRZ. “I’m going to show up every day and go to work. Help the young guys, and do whatever they ask me. I’m super grateful and I just look forward to giving Bills Mafia everything left in me. I’m ready to go ball. I’m ready to go dominate.”

Jets

Broncos DE John Franklin-Myers explained how the trade process went down once the Jets acquired DE Haason Reddick from the Eagles.

“As far as the trade, the Jets traded for Haason and reached out to us and told us to see what we could find,” Franklin-Myers said, via Jon Heath of the Broncos Wire. “From there, you get the chance to have your conversations and do what you need to do. Denver came up and shoot, what an opportunity I had. I talked to the coaches and talked to the staff members.”

Patriots

The Patriots added second-round WR Ja’Lynn Polk in the draft to add talented pass catchers to support first-round QB Drake Maye. New England WR coach Tyler Hughes has been pleased with Polk’s work ethic and is excited for the impact he can have in his rookie year. 

“He has a really great work ethic and a process that he sticks to every single day. He’s been good about that. I think his improvement has come from learning our system and playbook and how his skill set fits into that,” Hughes said, via ESPN’s Mike Reiss.

“Like any new player coming in, you have some things you’ve done in your past that have been really good for you — you have to use those — but also have an open-minded approach and say, ‘What else can I do to improve?’ because obviously players are a little bit better and a little bit faster. He’s done a good job of saying, ‘This is what I know, this is what I need to work on,’ and he’s worked at it every day.”