AFC Notes: Greg Schiano, Patriots, Ravens

Greg Schiano

• Regarding Greg Schiano’s surprising decision to step down from his role with the Patriots, Ben Volin of the Boston Globe reports that he didn’t want to move his family until his daughter, a high school sophomore in Columbus, Ohio, graduates.
• Volin says that Schiano has basically had an open invitation to join Bill Belichick’s staff for several years, and only took it now because he was let go from Ohio State in January.
• Volin’s “hunch” is that Schiano determined being a long-distance father wasn’t going to work for him or his family and decided to acknowledge this now well in advance of the season. 

Patriots

• NBC Sports’ Tom Curran writes that this could be the Patriots’ toughest offseason yet because of all the continuity that’s been lost from the coaching staff and offense.  
• Curran says it’s probably unrealistic to expect Jerod Mayo to step in as defensive coordinator right away after being earmarked for LBs coach before the departure of Greg Schiano.  
• Curran believes the reported interest by the Patriots in QB Josh Rosen is more of an effort by the Cardinals to drum up a market than any actual pursuit of Rosen by New England.  

Ravens

Ravens HC John Harbaugh says he expects K Kaare Vedvik to perform well enough this preseason to draw interest as a trade target again.  

“Kaare Vedvik, he’ll be back,” Harbaugh said via Clifton Brown of the official team site. “He was with us all season, he’s training now. He’ll be one of our camp kickers. Actually, I fully expect that he’ll kick well enough for us to trade him. That’s kind of, I would say, the goal. Now, if something changes, it’s always competitive. You never know. Watch out Tuck. But I think we’re really set with our specialists. Obviously, we’re not looking to make a change there in all seriousness. But he’s capable of kicking in the NFL. We probably could have traded him last year.” 

Vedvik was 8-for-9 on field goal attempts last preseason with a long of 56 yards after signing as an undrafted free agent out of Marshall.  However, he spent the year on the reserve/non-football list after being assaulted in downtown Baltimore.