AFC Notes: Samaje Perine, Orlando Brown, Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders

Broncos

Broncos RB Samaje Perine spoke about leaving the Bengals and admitted he was looking for a fresh start, regardless of how the team planned to handle the situation with RB Joe Mixon.

“I felt like it was time for me to branch out and start something new, to try to make even more of a name for myself with a new program,” Perine said, via Chris Tomasson of the Denver Gazette. “I just felt it was time for me to make a name for myself wanting to do more offensively just because I didn’t know what they were going to do with Joe. Obviously, he’s still a great back. I know how it goes when you’re paying your lead guy X amount of money, so they’re going to get their work out of him, I don’t blame him. You know good stuff happens when Joe touches the ball, but I just didn’t want to get stuck in that cycle that he’s getting 75, 80, 90 percent of the touches and just stuck with leftovers on third down.”

• Mike Klis reports that Syracuse DB Garrett Williams will have a top-30 visit with the Broncos. 
• Broncos HC Sean Payton on training players with exercises and weights: “There’s a progression, I think, when you train athletes. I think we’re too quick to move out of Phase 1 into football after three weeks of lifting and running. That’s not enough time.” (Mike Klis)
• Central Michigan RB Lew Nichols III has already visited with the Packers and will now visit with the Bengals, Broncos, and Lions. (Dave Birkett)

Chiefs

Speaking to Mike Sando of The Athletic, one anonymous league executive praised the Chiefs for moving on from OT Orlando Brown this offseason.

“I give them credit for not (franchise) tagging Orlando Brown and not spending dollars on him,” an exec said, “because he was probably the weakest link on their line last year. It seems like they figured out that as long as you protect Mahomes, nothing else matters. It is probably true.”

Raiders

All three of the Raiders’ top three receivers — Davante Adams, Hunter Renfrow, and Jakobi Meyers — are known for doing some of their best work out of the slot. And while Adams is good enough to play anywhere, that’s led to some questions about Las Vegas’ plans to deploy Renfrow and Meyers. Raiders GM Dave Ziegler compared it to when the Patriots had WRs Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola. 

“I don’t look at it as overlap as much as I look at it as versatility to be able to move people around and put them in different spots,” Ziegler said via the Athletic’s Tashan Reed. “… I’ve had similar circumstances in the past where say like Julian and Danny had some overlap in their skill set, but we also used it kind of to our advantage. Those guys will give us flexibility to move people around. Jakobi has a lot of his production inside the numbers and I think that’s tailored to what we do offensively. I think it also highlights some of the things that Jimmy [Garoppolo] does well offensively, and where he throws the football well. Now, I think he can throw it to all levels, but he’s had a lot of production, too, between the numbers. So, I think Jakobi fits some of the things that Jimmy does well and it gives us some versatility. He’s just been a highly productive player. Again, maybe it doesn’t jump off the page in terms of an elite athletic skill set, but he’s really productive on third down, really productive over the middle of the field and when you watch his tape you see him get open and win in the slot and you see him get open and win on the perimeter. I don’t really have any issues with where he’s going to play because I think you could put him anywhere and he’s going to get open.”