HEADLINES

AFC East Notes: Kraft, Jets, Dolphins

May 17th, 2019 at 4:58pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Robert Kraft case took another turn a few days ago, when a judge ruled that video of the Patriots’ owner inside the spa cannot be used in court because it was obtained illegally, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. This doesn’t mean Kraft is out of the woods yet, even though it does improve his legal standing. As Ben Volin of the Boston Globe tweets, Kraft can still be disciplined by the league under the personal conduct policy, even if he isn’t convicted of a crime. That being said, Volin wonders whether the league and fellow owners really want to punish Kraft.

To that end, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com took a look at where things will go from here, and previewed what is ahead. While noting it’s a “delicate issue,” Florio seems to think the Patriots boss has a decent chance of getting off with no punishment from Roger Goodell. Even if the league finds there is sufficient evidence that Kraft participated in solicitation, Florio writes that it “would be difficult to match the behavior to one of the 13 specific examples of prohibited conduct contained in the Personal Conduct Policy.” There will be backlash no matter what side of the fence Goodell comes down on, and it’ll be very interesting to see how he proceeds. We should have another update soon.

Here’s more from the AFC East:

  • The Jets have fired Mike Maccagnan and the search for his replacement is underway, with new head coach Adam Gase serving as the interim GM. Gase is widely believed to have won a power struggle, and it seems like he’s more or less in charge in New York. Acting owner and CEO Christopher Johnson will have final say, but the new GM will almost certainly be handpicked by Gase. We’ve already heard a few names the Jets are interested in, and now we have another. 49ers VP of Player Personnel Adam Peters is a name to keep an eye on in the Jets‘ GM search, Manish Mehta of the Daily News tweets. Peters was an exec with the Broncos at the same time Gase was there as the OC, so there’s some familiarity there.
  • The Patriots added to their crowded receiving room last week by signing Dontrelle Inman, and now we have the details on his pact. It’s a one-year deal with a “$200K signing bonus, $100k of his base salary guaranteed, $300k in roster bonuses, and a $100k reporting bonus, in addition to incentives up to $1m,” according to Mike Reiss of ESPN.com (Twitter link). That’s a significant amount of guarantees, and Reiss writes that it “reflects how he had other suitors” and that “this isn’t a minimum-level deal.” It sounds like the Pats could be counting on Inman to play a significant role in 2019.
  • Safety Reshad Jones continued to stay away from the Dolphins during the voluntary portion of their offseason program, but the team expects to have him for mandatory minicamp next month, per Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Jones had a falling out with the team last season, and it’s been rumored Miami plans on shopping him. Jones is due more than $13MM in guaranteed salary, so he isn’t going to be released. Jones, a Pro Bowler as recently as 2017, is also coming off shoulder surgery.
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