AFC East Notes: Jets, Darnold, Bills

Finally, the Jets have signed No. 3 overall pick Sam Darnold. The quarterback’s contract includes offset language, at the Jets’ insistence, but the deal favors the quarterback in other areas. The USC product will receive his $20MM signing bonus payment within 15 days and the team also agreed to keep his guarantees intact if he is fined in the future. The Jets made some serious concessions to get Darnold back in practice, but ultimately GM Mike Maccagnan was comfortable with those sacrifices.

“Some of those things, they do set precedents going forward, but there’s precedents…you feel comfortable with or not,” Maccagnan said (via Matt Stypulkoski of NJ.com). “Those are areas that – I know there’s certain trends in the league right now, trending toward no offset. But again, it’s one thing if you kind of stay consistent with what you believe in and what you want to protect.”

Here’s more from the AFC East:

• Bills defensive tackle Adolphus Washington may be in roster trouble, Joe Buscaglia of WKBW writes. The 2016 third-round pick has been struggling in practice while the team has given Harrison Phillips work at Washington’s three-technique position. Bills GM Brandon Beane hasn’t been shy about jettisoning players from the old regime, so Buscaglia wonders if Washington could go on the trade block between now and September. It’s not quite clear what the Bills could fetch for Washington, however, given uneven performance over the last two years.
• The Bills‘ new look offensive line is long on experience but may be short on talent, Sal Maiorana of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle writes. The Bills are coming into 2018 without Cordy Glenn, Eric Wood, and Richie Incognito, three players who have started a combined 347 games and made five Pro Bowls. Of the Bills’ current 15 linemen, they have zero Pro Bowlers or even players that have been considered for a Pro Bowl.
• Patriots second-round pick Duke Dawson could wind up starting at cornerback.