AFC Notes: Stefon Diggs, Sean McDermott, Jerod Mayo, Bills, Jets, Patriots

Bills

Bills GM Brandon Beane expressed confidence in WR Stefon Diggs after struggling during the latter half of the season and still considers him a No. 1 receiver. 

“He’s a No. 1 receiver,” Beane said, via NFL.com. “I firmly believe that. I’m not wavering off of that. … We have to continue to put weapons out there to keep teams from bracketing him or locking him down in different ways. … Stef can still play. I’m sure he would love to have that deep ball again. He’d be the first to tell you. He’s super competitive. He’s going to work his tail off this offseason. I know there’s various reasons or questions on this, there’s production and all that, but I still see Stef as a No. 1 receiver.”

Bills HC Sean McDermott struggled to explain why Diggs’ production dropped off later on in the season. 

“I can’t say, in particular, why,” McDermott said. “If I could, we would flip it back that way to the way it started earlier in the year. … Stef’s a great player. I love Stef. He was a phenomenal teammate.”

Jets

• Jonathan Jones reports that the Jets are hiring Tony Dews as their new running backs coach.

Patriots

New Patriots HC Jerod Mayo has been in New England for a long time, first as a player and then as a coach. He shared a little about what he plans to do differently and what he plans to try and keep the same. 

“It’s about the players. One thing I took away from Coach Belichick is players win games and coaches lose games. We can talk all we want to about scheme and what we want to do, but if you don’t have players out there that have a shared vision, it’s going to be hard to score points,” he said via ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “… We will remain a game-plan team. Whatever we have to do to make the other team play ‘left-handed’ — offensive, defensive and special teams-wise — that’s always been the goal.”

• Reiss says Rams TE coach Nick Caley is viewed by some people close to the hiring process as well-positioned to land the Patriots’ offensive coordinator job. 
• Caley was the TE coach in New England from 2015 to 2022 and was passed over for offensive coordinator last year.