Bills

Despite the pending contract negotiations, Bills RB James Cook attended mandatory minicamp to avoid taking fines. Buffalo HC Sean McDermott praised Cook for attending to be with everyone else on the team. 

“I credit James,” McDermott said, via ESPN’s Alaina Getzenberg. “Business is business. At the end of the day, I know he loves being around this team and the guys in the locker room and he loves to play football.

“So, I respect his decision to be here and be amongst the team and get some work in today, and we’re looking forward to that.”

McDermott implied they are not in a hurry to get an extension done, but he said they expect Cook to be ready to practice come training camp. 

“We’re just taking it one day at a time. I mean, we’ve all been around this league a long time and everyone has their own situations. They’re all different.

“So, I think again, we need everybody to win, and we need everybody to practice, and so we expect James to be there and be there on time but also understand his situation.”

Dolphins

Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa said while talking to the media that he has noticed a culture shift with the team and is establishing positive chemistry with his teammates both on and off the field.

“I think there is a culture shift,” Tagovailoa said, via Pro Football Talk. “I feel it just as much as everyone that’s been here since I’ve gotten into the league. We always hear about, ‘Man, culture shift. You guys have a change of this. You guys are doing this, always optimistic.’ But I really do feel in my heart that this is a change of scenery for our guys in the locker room, and then it also transitions to our coaches as well, because we get opportunities to lead and it’s not as much the coaches as it is the players I would say this year. For me, I think what’s most important is I’ve been here for five years going on six. Are you not tired of what we’ve done these past five years? If you are, then why aren’t we doing anything about it? What do we have to change? What do we have to do to correct the navigation of where we want to go? I would say that’s what it is. You create that standard in the locker room, the guys follow and you’ve got to uphold it. So you come into work knowing that they are looking to you to uphold that standard and if you don’t, you’ve got to have brought enough guys to hold you to that standard as well.”

“I wouldn’t say anyone has inspired me on this team, I would say we’ve grown pretty close collectively as a group. Hanging out a lot more, literally hanging out a lot,” Tagovailoa added. “My wife gets mad because we’re hanging out. No kidding, we hang out so much, it’s like you don’t see enough of them at the facility? It’s just a different deal, right? You’re at work and when you get time to relax, that’s just a different type of conversation that you get to have with the guys. I would say just the camaraderie with the guys has been really good.”

Jets

Jets LB Quincy Williams said HC Aaron Glenn quickly called him up after being hired by New York to go over his “vision” for the team. 

“Coach challenged me at the beginning,” Williams said, via Brian Costello of the New York Post. “When he first got the job, he gave me a call. We had an hour-and-a-half conversation just on his vision and also me getting his vision to the players and stuff so we were all on the same page. And then, he challenged me with a couple of things to work on this offseason and then to show it during the season.”

Glenn said there are some areas he wants Williams to work on. 

“I told Quincy when he first came and met with me, there are some things that I want him to work on, and he is doing everything he can to get better at those things,” Glenn said. “Listen, I don’t lie to players, and he’s a really good player, but there’s also some things that he’s got to get better at, and he understands that.”

Glenn thinks Williams being open to criticism is a sign he’s a “really, really good player.” 

“That just goes to show you the sign of a really, really good player because they’re OK with criticism, and in this league, even the best players get criticized, but they want to be, too, because they want to be better,” Glenn said. “And he’s one of those guys that wants to be better. I pulled him in my office, told him some things he’s got to work on. He knows the things he’s good at, and the things he’s got to work on, he’s doing everything he can to get better at those things.”