Changes ahead in the AFC East
Really liked the Dolphins’ signing of tight end Jonnu Smith. The Patriots couldn’t figure out how to use him in 2021-22, but Smith had a nice bounceback season in Atlanta, catching a career-high 50 passes for 582 yards and three touchdowns. Smith has always been a good catch-and-run tight end, and he finished third among tight ends in 2023 in average yards after the catch (7.2). Smith could see a lot of open spaces on a Dolphins offense that has speedsters Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle on the outside.
• The Bills will get younger. Cornerback Tre’Davious White (29), safety Jordan Poyer (32), and center Mitch Morse (31) were released this past week, and receiver Gabe Davis (24) and safety Micah Hyde (33) won’t be resigned. While these are framed in media reports as salary-cap moves, they’re really about cutting costs, as they saved more than $37 million. The Bills were one of the top cash spenders last year at $278 million, or about $50 million more than the salary cap, and owners rarely green-light that kind of spending in consecutive years.
These guys came to play
A few notes about snap counts in 2023:
• Only 19 offensive players participated in 100 percent of their team’s snaps, and all were linemen, including Patriots center David Andrews. Browns guard Wyatt Teller wasn’t one of the 19, but he led the league with 1,187 offensive snaps.
• Among quarterbacks, Jared Goff led the way at 99.75 percent, missing three snaps all season. Baker Mayfield (99.73 percent) also missed just three snaps. Jordan Love, Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, Sam Howell, and Tua Tagovailoa were the others over 95 percent.
• The top offensive skill players: Buccaneers TE Cade Otton (96.5 percent), Colts WR Alec Pierce (95), Raiders WR Davante Adams (92.1), Jets WR Garrett Wilson (91.5), and Panthers WR Adam Thielen (91).
• The top running backs: Buccaneers’ Rachaad White (78 percent), 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey (76.2), Jaguars’ Travis Etienne (73.5), Cowboys’ Tony Pollard (70.1), and Bengals’ Joe Mixon (69.1).
• Only two defensive players participated in 100 percent of snaps, and both were on the Giants — linebacker Bobby Okereke and safety Xavier McKinney. Eight others played at least 99 percent of snaps.
• Patriots linebacker Jahlani Tavai had one of the most unique seasons in the NFL, contributing on all four downs with 837 defensive snaps (74 percent) and 359 on special teams (79 percent). No other player with 300 special teams snaps played more than 550 defensive snaps. Tavai had a breakout season with 16 starts, two interceptions, a sack, and 110 tackles.
• The Patriots’ Brenden Schooler and Chris Board were two of the four players leaguewide to play at least 400 special teams snaps, and they led the NFL with 88.9 percent participation.
Smart tag on Dugger
A question on many people’s minds this past week: Why would the Patriots place the rarely used transition tag on safety Kyle Dugger?
It guarantees Dugger a one-year salary of $13.815 million if he signs the tag, and gives the Patriots the right to match any free agent offer, but doesn’t provide the Patriots compensation if Dugger signs elsewhere. The Patriots were the first team in four years to use the transition tag, and just the sixth team in the last 11 years.
But there were two reasons it made smart business for the Patriots. One, it gives them more leverage on a longterm deal with Dugger — $13.815 million is now the starting point, instead of $17.12 million on the franchise tag, or even more had Dugger reached unrestricted free agency.
Two, the transition tag fires a warning shot to the other 31 teams — don’t bother offering Dugger, because we’re just going to match your contract. The Patriots have among the most cap space in the league and are well positioned to match any offer to Dugger, and the transition tag broadcasts their intentions to the league.
The other teams will be discouraged from negotiating seriously with Dugger, because they know they are ultimately just negotiating the deal for the Patriots (poison pills have been outlawed). In turn, the lack of suitors should help the Patriots get a more team-friendly deal.
Circus time
The NFL Players Association’s anonymous player surveys are incredibly insightful because they offer concrete examples of how teams really treat players (e.g. how the Bengals can’t get hot water in their locker room, the Patriots have a shoddy weight room, and the Chargers charge players for child care).
In the same vein, the comments from tight end Dalton Schultz this past week about the circus-like atmosphere that envelops the Cowboys were incredibly illuminating. Schultz just finished his first year in Houston after five in Dallas and was blown away by the differences.
“You think it’s normal, and then you come to a place like this,” Schultz said on the “Pat McAfee Show”. “There’s people literally going on tours while you’re lifting in the weight room. They’ve got a one-way mirror for people to look in. It’s literally a zoo. There’s people tapping on the glass, trying to get people’s attention while they’re doing power cleans or whatever.
“That’s the brand that they’ve built, that’s what Jerry Jones likes, that’s the way they run things, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just you don’t realize how many eyeballs and how much that can maybe distract from stuff in the locker room being in the facility, until you go somewhere else and you’re like, ‘Holy crap, there’s none of that.’ ”
Extra points
A travesty of justice that former Chiefs coach Britt Reid, son of Andy Reid, got his meager three-year prison sentence (he was facing seven) commuted after just 16 months this past week by Missouri’s governor, Mike Parson, allowing Reid to finish his sentence at home. In 2021, Reid got drunk at the Chiefs’ facility and slammed his pickup truck into the back of a car at high speed, sending a 5-year-old girl into a coma and giving her a lifetime of challenges. Parson never explained why Reid got to go home early, and the Chiefs aren’t commenting. “It’s because the Governor of Missouri is a Chiefs fan, went to the Super Bowl, went to the after-parties, went to the parade and the rally, and even has a Chiefs tattoo,” attorney Tom Porto told Yahoo! Sports . . . The NFL needs to reconsider its weather policy now that some fans who attended the Chiefs-Dolphins playoff game in January may need amputations, per Fox 4 in Kansas City. The NFL prides itself on playing in all kinds of weather, but the temperatures that night — a windchill of minus-27 at kickoff — were too dangerous for fans. The NFL will move games for hurricanes and thunderstorms, and should do the same for extreme cold . . . The NFL Players Association has a new president in Lions linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin, who was elected Friday. He replaces JC Tretter, who served two two-year terms . . . The Patriots are eligible to start their offensive program April 1 since they have a new head coach. Teams with returning coaches may start April 15.