After having spent the first four years of his career with the Ravens, Courtney Upshaw joined the Falcons yesterday. Still, the 26-year-old was quick to recognize his former team’s fans.
“No thank you!” he wrote on Instagram. “#ravennation I appreciate all the love! Gonna miss those guys! Gonna miss those all black uniforms! Next man up! I understand that it’s a business! I met some great people in Baltimore who treated me like family and I appreciate it all! God has a plan for me and this is part of it! Call it a fresh start or whatever but I’m ready for the challenge!”
Let’s check out some more notes from around the AFC…
- Dolphins rookie head coach Adam Gase has watched as a trio of talented young players (Olivier Vernon, Lamar Miller, Rishard Matthews) left Miami this offseason. Still, he understands the roster turnover is part of the job. “That’s the struggle, that’s the tough part about being, at least for myself being in Year 1, there’s nothing that I was able to do as far as moving forward,” he told ESPN.com’s James Walker. “We were in that situation. We had three good players that were wanted by other teams. Obviously we would have loved to keep them but it was too late. Once they hit the market, it was going to be a challenge to keep them on our roster.”
- Despite the receiver’s $6.8MM cap hit, ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss believes the Patriots should hold on to wideout Danny Amendola. With the team acquiring a handful of new targets for Tom Brady, the writer wonders whether the organization would ask Amendola to take a payout for the second straight season.
- The Texans could use a speedy wideout in the draft, tweets John McClain of the Houston Chronicle. He also notes that offensive tackle, defensive end, safety, tight end, and center are other positions of need.
I don’t see the fit for Amendola. The Patriots have a proven system that churns out what it needs to with a mostly short-passing approach. Paying Amendola $6.8MM — as of now more than Gronk or Julian Edelman — doesn’t make sense. Keeping the middling target now that RFA Chris Hogan’s joined seems somewhat redundant especially after Amendola failed to live up to expectations upon signing three years ago.
Agree that Danny’s pay needs to be reduced. But he has not been a “bust”. He had early injuries, but the last two seasons has come on strong. Did you forget his role in SB win? And this year, thank god we had him … Needed him BAD when both Jules and Gronk injured. His play is what carried us enough to get to the playoffs.
Still needs editing. Weak.