With the 2014 free agent period just one week away from officially getting underway, let’s round up a few of the latest AFC East headlines related to free agency….
- While it looks like there’s a strong possibility of Jairus Byrd leaving the Bills in free agency, the safety hasn’t ruled out the possibility of returning to Buffalo, as he tells Mike Rodak of ESPN.com. “The door is not closed on anything,” Byrd said. “I’m not closing the door on any opportunities at all. The lines of communication [with the Bills] are still open…. We’re talking. So it’s not anything that’s hard feelings or anything like that. The conversations that we’ve had, we know what’s going on. We’re all on the same page. We’ll go from here.”
- Byrd also cautioned that “you can’t really believe everything you hear” when asked about an Associated Press report that suggested he turned down an offer from the Bills that would have paid him $10MM over the next three years.
- The Patriots may end up re-signing free-agents-to-be Julian Edelman and/or Aqib Talib, but the team didn’t see any value in using the franchise tag on either player, writes Ben Volin of the Boston Globe. Volin also thinks it only makes sense for New England to release Danny Amendola this offseason if the receiver is designated as a post-June 1 cut.
- Seth Walder of the New York Daily News examines a few potential free agent wide receiver targets for the Jets, including Hakeem Nicks, Emmanuel Sanders, and Golden Tate.