AFC East Notes: Ridley, Bills, Vick
Patriots running back Stevan Ridley should have plenty of motivation heading into the season. After struggling with fumble issues for much of last year, the former third-rounder was replaced by veteran LeGarrette Blount towards the end of the regular season and playoffs. With Blount gone, Ridley has a great opportunity to reestablish himself as a premier back. The opportunity to regain his starting gig isn’t the 25-year-old’s only motivation, however – Ridley is also entering the final year of his contract.
The fourth-year player addressed the situation and acknowledged that a future contract is certainly on his mind (via Phil Perry of CSNNE.com)…
“I have to be honest about it, it’s there,” Ridley said. “But it’s not my first concern. My first concern is going out there and being the best player for this team. If I go out there and have a productive year and do what I need to do, the contract will take care of itself.
“I’m not really gonna put too much thought into it. As you guys know, if I start thinking about that, it can easily be a distraction. I can’t worry about that. I’m gonna have some good days, have some bad days, I’m just gonna keep working, keep grinding, keep my head in the dirt and keep grinding it out.”
As the Boston Herald’s Jeff Howe tweets, the Patriots haven’t had any discussion with Ridley’s camp regarding a new contract. Howe doesn’t expect any type of action until after the season, “if at all.”
Let’s check out some more notes from the AFC East…
- The Bills lost another tight end to injury as starter Scott Chandler left the field on Sunday with a groin injury, writes Joe Buscaglia of WGR 550. The team was already without Tony Moeaki and Chris Gragg, but coach Doug Marrone indicated that the Bills would rely on their own players to fill the void. The only healthy tight ends on the roster are Lee Smith and Dominique Jones, and Buscaglia suggests that fullback Evan Rodriguez could get some reps.
- Michael Vick had an impressive weekend at Jets training camp, but the veteran quarterback is aware of his position on the depth chart behind Geno Smith. “It’s a very fine line,” he said (via USA Today Sports’ Jarrett Bell). “I accept this role and I embrace it and I appreciate it. But I know this is not my football team. So that’s why I’m able to deal with it. At the same time, I feel like I’m one of the best quarterbacks in the league. That’s the way I feel.”
- During the 2013 season, only one Jets starter (Demario Davis) played more than 29 percent of the team’s snaps on special teams. As Rich Cimini of ESPNNewYork.com writes, that will certainly change in 2014 as the team looks to improve a lackluster unit. “We’re going to use a bunch of those guys on all of our special teams,” said head coach Rex Ryan. “We think we have to get better on ‘teams.’ We want to be one of the best special teams units in the league. It’s really all hands on deck, especially the punt team. We want to have a great punt team.”
Jets Notes: Amaro, Pryor, Boyd, Saunders
Jace Amaro, the consensus All-American tight end from Texas Tech whom the Jets took with their second-round pick, caught 106 passes in 13 games his junior season. Extrapolate that to 16 games — a full regular season in the NFL — and that’s over 130 receptions.
Now, college football is not pro football, but that doesn’t stop Amaro from setting his goals high, saying he hopes to catch 100 balls on a consistent basis, reports Kimberley A. Martin of newsday.com.
One player Amaro hopes to pattern his game after is Tony Gonzalez. “He’s kind of old-school, but he did some great things, too, and I definitely feel like I’d like to [model] his game,” Amaro said. “That’s someone I’d love to ultimately be. He’s supposedly the greatest tight end ever to play the game and that’s somewhere I want to be, too.”
Amaro and the team agreed to terms on a four-year contract yesterday.
More links below on the goings-on from Gang Green…
- Coach Rex Ryan is going to love his new safety, Calvin Pryor. Nicknamed “The Louisville Slugger,” Martin writes that Pryor doesn’t wear a mouthpiece so he can better talk trash to opponents, and that he hopes to walk the walk on that talk with big hits and loud play, similar to Seattle’s Kam Chancellor and Tampa Bay’s Dashon Goldson.
- Pryor joined the New York Post’s Steve Serby for a Sunday Q&A, touching on Pryor’s twitter narratives and his desire to prove the doubters wrong.
- Working out of the shotgun nearly every snap of his college career, Jets quarterback Tajh Boyd focused on proper footwork in rookie minicamp, Martin notes.
- With a host of new receiving threats acquired — Eric Decker and David Nelson through free agency, and Jalen Saunders, Shaq Evans and Quincy Enunwa through the draft — Ryan called the group much better from top to bottom than at any point last season, said Martin.
- On that note, Rich Cimini of ESPNNewYork.com writes that the receivers have had a case of the dropsies in rookie camp.
Rex Ryan On The Draft, Offseason
Jets head coach Rex Ryan was at a charity softball game for CBS Radio personalities Boomer and Carton of WFAN, and spoke to Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post. Hubbuch posted some of what Ryan had to say on Twitter in a series of tweets, giving some insight into some of the Jets possible draft strategy, as well as an update on the offseason so far.
- Ryan said “half-jokingly” that the Jets were planning on taking a defensive lineman in the first round again in the upcoming draft. He then told general manager John Idzik that he thinks the fans would run the two of them out of town if they actually did that again.
- About the prospect of moving around in the draft, Ryan said that having 12 picks gives them the flexibility to move up if an opportunity to present itself in the first round.
- Speaking on the offseason workout program, the head coach noted that the team had a nearly perfect attendance, including the newest Jet, running back Chris Johnson. The only absences were expected.