Dolphins
The Dolphins made headlines when they traded CB Jalen Ramsey to the Steelers in exchange for S Minkah Fitzpatrick. Eric Williams of Fox Sports cites an anonymous general manager who doesn’t think Ramsey is a suitable safety at his $24,100,000 annual salary, which would make him the league’s highest-paid player at the position.
“Ramsey at safety is intriguing to me, but not at that money,” the general manager said. “He is still a starting corner but again, his performance will not equal his pay.”
The GM believes Fitzpatrick was a better option, and Miami did well to rid itself of Ramsey’s exorbitant contract.
“(Minkah) Fitzpatrick is a better safety — younger, cheaper and less drama,” the GM said. “I give Miami kudos for rectifying a mistake contract extension from a year ago.”
Jets
Jets QB Justin Fields appears to finally be getting the right opportunity in New York this season, with HC Aaron Glenn and OC Tanner Engstrand putting their confidence in his ability to play quarterback.
“It’s been good,” Fields told Eric Allen of the team website. “Of course, this is my third team in the last three years, so last year pretty much was the same thing. But I’m definitely grateful for those experiences and kind of took those two experiences and brought them here. The process has been good so far. When I first got here, just trying to learn everybody’s name was the toughest thing for me. But as time goes along, you just start building those relationships with the different people around the building and stuff like that, but the process has been great.”
The Jets felt strongly enough about Fields to give him a two-year deal in free agency, and while it’s affordable relative to quarterback contracts as a whole, it’s still a healthy investment at $20 million a year. Engstrand explained why they felt confident in both the player and the person they were investing in.
“The biggest takeaway I would say is that this guy is just a workaholic,” Engstrand said. “He comes in early, he’s here late, and he’s trying to digest everything and download all the information and do things the right way. He’s trying to do things that we’re asking, and I think he’s really put the next foot forward every day, just trying to stack days, and it’s been really good.”
For his part, Fields was bought in on joining Glenn’s team after he was hired away from the Lions.
“I’ve known him since my rookie year, and his kind of mindset, his defense,” Fields said. “I played against him a couple of times a year. But my time here, I’ve really gotten to know him as a person, as a coach and really just get to see his side of things, really get to know how he is as a coach and as a leader of men. It’s been great so far, getting to know him and really getting that firsthand and first row seat seeing how he operates.”
Patriots
Patriots third-round WR Kyle Williams said that he looks at footballs as bags of money, something which he doesn’t plan on dropping.
“My mindset is don’t drop the money. Every time the ball is there, it’s a bag of money. We can’t let that hit the floor, because [then] that’s somebody else’s. Just being able to make those plays, just showing that I can compete against those top-tier guys in the league,” Williams said.
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