In the research that led to the Bills’ new stadium deal in Buffalo, the team acknowledged that they looked at many cities that are “oft-mentioned in NFL circles,” according to Tim O’Shei of The Buffalo News.
The Bills organization didn’t specify which cities they researched, but O’Shei’s report lists those often-discussed cities as Orlando, San Diego, San Antonio, Austin, St. Louis, Portland, Salt Lake City, Birmingham, and Louisville. International markets, such as Toronto or London, have also recently entered discussions.
Here are a few other rumors from around the AFC East, starting with a couple notes from Jersey:
- In a post-Draft analysis of the Jets, ESPN’s Rich Cimini discussed the situation surrounding Jets tackle Mekhi Becton. Rumors before the draft were hinting that New York would use one of their two top-ten draft picks to add a tackle to assist them in moving on from Becton, but the Jets instead addressed the cornerback and receiver rooms. Head coach Robert Saleh initially claimed Becton would compete with George Fant for the blindside job, but hinted more recently that Becton may move to the right side of the line. Unfortunately for the Jets, they won’t have an opportunity to see how he fits over there until he reports, as Becton has decided to skip the team’s voluntary workouts. Cimini makes a great point that, since their insurance policy of Morgan Moses departed to Baltimore in free agency, it is crucial that Becton sees success at right tackle.
- Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated also wrote an analysis of the NFL Draft with a section focusing on the Jets’ historic first round. Breer mentions how, after the Jets were able to land Cincinnati cornerback Ahmad Gardner and Ohio State wide receiver Garrett Wilson in the top-ten, Saleh encouraged general manager Joe Douglas to go after Florida State defensive end Jermaine Johnson II should he start to slide down the board. New York turned up the heat after the Eagles moved ahead of the Ravens and Johnson continued to fall, making phone calls to the Texans (at 15), the Commanders (at 16), and the Chargers (at 17). After talking to the Titans, who had moved up to 18 with the A.J. Brown-trade, Douglas knew Tennessee was going to select a wide receiver to fill their new A.J. Brown-shaped hole, but a discussion was made about a potential swap for the Titans’ other first-round pick at 26. Douglas had only one line in the sand: the Jets owned two early second-round picks, and he wanted to keep at least one of them, to eventually draft Iowa State running back Breece Hall. Johnson fell right into their laps at 26, and the Jets had their three Day 1-selections.
- Unfortunately for the Patriots, Becton won’t be the only AFC East player missing voluntary workouts this month as veteran running back James White is still recovering from the hip injury that ended his 2022 season in a Week 3 loss to the Saints, according to Mike Reiss of ESPN. White was quoted at the team’s draft party, saying, “I still have a little while to go (after) a pretty rough injury.” Reiss points out that this is a golden opportunity for running back J.J. Taylor to show he has what it takes to take over White’s role.
The Bills never planned to move…but just mentioning other cities got the governor of NY to fold like a cheap suit.
Also helps that the governors husband is the co-owner of the company that does the concessions for the Bills Stadium. Had they moved, and her never getting elected to a second term, the Hochuls will need a paycheck to fall back on.
Relocating a team costs $550 million. I don’t think a team getting that much $ for their stadium in tax dollars is willing to pay that exorbitant price.
Jets looking tough
Good young QB
Good young RB
Multiple WRers
Few good TEs
And a improved o line
Some good names of defence too
They are in the bottom 3 in the AFC..
Last year they finished 3rd to bottom in the AFC, way I see it Jets will be better than Lions and Jags again. They will be also be better than the Texans and Falcons. Plus it’s a coin flip between them Seahawks and Panthers.
They could get 6/7 wins next season
Jury still out on Wilson….he didn’t exactly wow anyone in that rookie year.
He got sacked so many times cause of the weak line, had little help at WR or TE and a rookie RB and a head coach new to the team…. He’s going to have a better line, better RB, more pass catching options and a HC that’s now familiar with the team.
Wilson needs to get the ball out much faster. The line wasn’t even all that bad last year.
He played much better after returning from his injury. I’m optimistic he learned a lot last year, and his supporting staff looks to be much better. If his improvements in the second half last year were legit, they could surprise this season. (I’m not saying playoffs but they could be in the running until the end of the season)
I’m not sold yet on Wilson, but I agree that Douglas seems to have made some great moves for the Jets. I’m looking forward to seeing what they can put on the field this year.
Clueless comments here on the Jets- time will show your ignorance. Rich Cimini is an ass clown- guy always strives for the anti- Jets angle when he can….just pay attention to how little effort he makes to report on the positive
While a team or two in Europe would be pretty neat, there’s just way too much of a logistical issue to place just one or two there. At minimum, it seems that the only way to do it without creating a new league would be to add a division of four that wouldn’t have to travel as often as a team that has rivals across the Atlantic.
Even then, it would be a pretty big struggle for that European team to fly over stateside for nine games a year. I’m not sure that the NFL can do the European relocation, so the threat of using London or another European city as leverage is pretty minuscule to me. A Canadian or Mexican team would work a lot easier for the NFL than a European one. If the NFL wants to do a European based franchise, they’re going to have to add multiple teams to allow them to play each other, which ends up being a new league as is. The traveling would be too much to justify the expense and would harm the product.
Right now, the NFL is still tapping what market they have there without moving any of the franchises. Minus the Jags, the NFL teams just have to go once a year, and the NFL gets to sell some merchandise and gains a few extra fans who will pay for more. That’s all they really want, anyway, to reach more fans so they can sell more product.
Solution: Each team has 8 home games and 8 away games. Each team has one international game per season classified as a neutral game. These 16 match-ups in other countries world never involve division rivals.
disgusting reporting by Pro Football Rumors. Becton has a girl who is expecting that’s why he “skipped” I’m sorry that such writers like Rich Cimini and the PFR staff can’t understand such actions.
Saleh did it, too. If you’re going to criticize PFR and Cimini for it, Coach can’t be blameless either. Saleh said everything within the rules that he could without it being fine-worthy.
2 wrongs make a right?
What’s Robert going to say? Oh hope his girl gives birth soon…No a reporter literally is suppose to do their research both PFR and Cimini did not that’s why I am critiquing them.
I don’t know why the whole world is against Becton. He is a mountain of a man and yes he may have a few extra pounds but almost every offensive lineman does. Watching him his first year he played like an experienced lineman and I believe his rating was excellent. He got hurt in his second year. Why all the doubters.? You will see he will be there as a solid starter for many years to come !!
Jets for clicks of course. That and bad writing, bad narratives etc.
That Buffalo News story is typical of fanboy thinking churned by dumb-jock sportswriters. Can’t get what you want in Buffalo? Play that great American game called Sports Franchise Blackmail. Don’t talk about stepping on existing fanbases, lack of NFL-caliber facilities, or religious considerations. Forget about moving overseas — the Bills don’t even have international marketing rights to Canada or the U.K.
Bill is so full of him self he won’t take teams stars but he takes their trash and sometimes make good players out of them or brings them back to relevancy
They should’ve been after all those big name WR that where traded this offseason AJ, Hollywood Brown, Tyreek or another other WR available instead we get Parker and a crap draft and coaching staff
In Bill I don’t trust anymore none of us should it was Brady and the players
If you think that Brady was solely responsible for the success of a franchise that had a 20+ year dynasty under the same regime, you really need to dig deeper about what it takes to manage an NFL franchise.
Digging deeper would reveal that invented “tuck rules”, deflated footballs and surveillance violations provide some added insurance.