AFC East Notes: Dolphins, Landry, Bills, Pats

Although Dolphins wide receiver Jarvis Landry hasn’t formally signed his franchise tag, he has “accepted” the tender, which is an equal action in the eyes of the NFL, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Not only does that mean Miami cannot now rescind the tag, but Landry can be traded if the Dolphins find an acceptable deal. Landry, meanwhile, is sticking to his asking price of $14MM annually, but at least one of the clubs with interest in Landry believe he’s a $10MM/year player, per Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald. Thus far, both the Bears and Ravens, two of the more receiver-needy teams in the league, have reportedly been linked to a Landry trade.

Here’s more from the the AFC East:

  • Appearing on SiriusXM NFL Radio on Tuesday, Bills free agent wide receiver Jordan Matthews said he expects Buffalo to gauge the wideout market before discussing a new deal with him, according to Mike Rodak of ESPN.com (Twitter links). Perhaps more interesting, Matthews claimed he received “bad diagnoses” on knee and ankle injuries he suffered as a member of the Eagles, but corrections were made following his trade to the Bills. Buffalo acquired Matthews from Philadelphia last August in exchange for cornerback Ronald Darby and a third-round pick, and Matthews went on to produce a disappointing 25 receptions in 10 games. The 25-year-old is currently PFR’s No. 7-ranked free agent pass-catcher.
  • The Dolphins are interested in Panthers free agent tight end Ed Dickson, reports Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Dickson, 30, didn’t play a large receiving role during his first three years with Carolina, but an injury to starting tight end Greg Olsen allowed Dickson to play on 80% of Carolina’s offensive plays last season. While he wasn’t a world-beater, Dickson did manage 437 yards and a touchdown, solid numbers considering he’d managed just 370 receiving yards from 2014-16. Miami, who is expected to release tight end Julius Thomas, is the second team to be linked to Dickson, joining the Falcons.
  • Patriots free agent cornerback Malcolm Butler is one of the more intriguing players scheduled to hit the open market next week, leading Mike Reiss of ESPN.com to examine Butler’s earning potential. As Reiss writes, it’s not often a 28-year-old, full-time starter (with the exception of the Super Bowl, of course) reaches free agency, so Butler should be able to come close to $10MM annually on the open market. Butler, an up-and-down player throughout his career, ranked as the No. 51 CB among 121 qualifiers a season ago, per Pro Football Focus, while PFR recently listed Butler as the second-best available cornerback behind Trumaine Johnson.
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