NFL Notes: Jets, Lions, Patriots, Richard Sherman

Jets

• According to Rich Cimini, Jets GM Mike Maccagnan is “married to his best-player-available philosophy,” which could leave LSU RB Leonard Fournette in play for them at No. 6 overall.
• Cimini has spoken to scouts and personnel people who consider Alabama TE O.J. Howard to be “the real deal” worthy of the No. 6 overall pick.
• Cimini’s sources said that Alabama LB Reuben Foster has “as much natural talent as you will see in a linebacker,” but may struggle with the playbook and may not be able to make the calls.
• According to Cimini’s sources, OSU S Malik Hooker has “some Ed Reed qualities.”
• Interestingly enough, Cimini’s sources “hear they really like Charles Harris,” a possible first-round pick.
• As for LSU S Jamal Adams, Cimini’s source said he “could step in from Day 1 and run Todd Bowles‘ secondary.”

Lions

Former first-round pick Laken Tomlinson is expected to compete with Graham Glasgow and Joe Dahl not only for the starting left guard spot, but for a roster spot altogether writes Tim Twentyman.

“Laken’s going to compete at the left guard spot and we’ll head into training camp and OTAs with really good depth and really good competition across the board, so we’ll see how it goes with Laken,” Lions GM Bob Quinn said.

Tomlinson, 25, is a former first-round pick of the Lions back in 2015. He’s currently in the final year of his four-year, $8.55 million contract and stands to make a base salary of $1,600,944 for the 2017 season.

Detroit will have to decide whether to pick up his fifth-year option in the coming weeks, but given that he’s competing for both a starting job and a roster spot, it seems unlikely that they do so.

Patriots

• Mike Reiss confirms that free agent RB Adrian Peterson did, in fact, work out for the Patriots during his visit to the team.
• Reiss mentions that this contradicts the theory that the Patriots were just doing a favor to Peterson’s agent by bringing him in, given that they wouldn’t have put him through a workout during his visit if they didn’t want to see how he looked.
• As of now, the Patriots have 24 open roster spots, which means they could be in a position to sign several undrafted free agents later this month.
• In regards to the Patriots’ reported interest in CB Richard Sherman, Reiss gets the sense that New England did their due diligence on him before the start of free agency and before they signed Stephon Gilmore to a five-year, $65 million deal.
• With this in mind, Reiss says that the Patriots aren’t expected to pursue Sherman.