Bills
The Bills signed P Brad Robbins as an unrestricted free agent this offseason following his two years with the Bengals. Robbins, who was a sixth-round pick by Cincinnati, explained that he felt “disconnected” after being drafted out of Michigan.
“I felt disconnected,” Robbins said, via Lance Lysowski of the Buffalo News. “After I figured out I can punt a football pretty well, my goal was to make it to the NFL. Once I got drafted and played, like, ‘What are my goals? What do I want to do?’ I just didn’t have the guidance. I didn’t have the people around me at the time. I was just punting. That was it.”
Robbins suffered a hip flexor injury in August of last year, which enabled Ryan Rehkow to win the starting job in Cincinnati. Robbins went through a similar situation at Michigan when he dealt with a back injury in 2018 and 2019.
“I’ve seen the end of the movie already,” Robbins said. “I’m just excited for that. I feel like I’m hitting my stride, and I’m punting the best I’ve been punting.”
Robbins is competing with Jake Camarda this offseason. In the end, Robbins is focused on becoming one of the best punters in the NFL.
“I don’t place limitations on myself to beat Jake Camarda for a job,” said Robbins. “I want to lead the league. I can’t lead the league if I don’t win a job. I have these aspirations I’m so focused on that I’m not thinking about competing against someone else.”
Jets
Jets CB Sauce Gardner is being pushed by DC Steve Wilks and HC Aaron Glenn to become great this season.
“I know I’m not perfect, but the fact that he’s trying to get perfection out of me is what I need because, you know, I’ve had a lot of success, early success in the league,” Gardner said, via Rich Cimini of ESPN. “And the last thing I need is a new regime to come in here and just allow me to be complacent. I’m not saying that’s who I am, but it’s great to just have those type of guys that are going to demand a lot out of me and just push me in ways that I’ve never been pushed before.”
“He’s very gifted, and I told him, ‘Sometimes your greatest strength is your greatest weakness,’” Wilks said of Gardner. “He’s a guy that sometimes at 85%, he’s still better than everybody around him. So his thing is — and I told him, ‘compete against yourself.’ That’s where he has to get better, which he will.”
“Here’s what I’ve talked to him about, about who he needs to be,” Glenn noted. “When you do lead, just let your influence do all the talking. How do you operate in the huddle and with the players in the locker room? That speaks more than the rah-rah guy. He understands that because influence, to me, is really what leadership is about.”
Patriots
When asked if there are any more positions to fill on the Patriots, HC Mike Vrabel responded that they are always looking to improve the roster.
“I think that should go for every position on a roster. We would always want to do that, I think. Trying to always continually make the roster more competitive and trying to find everybody that can continually help us from now until the end of the season. I think that just has to go on. That has to happen. Whether that does or not, I don’t know. It’s not going to keep us from looking, trying to bring up ideas or players, or how we acquire players between now and the end of the season,” Vrabel said, via the team’s site.
Regarding undrafted WR Efton Chism, Vrabel said the rookie is making an impact in their spring program and he’s earning their quarterbacks’ trust.
“I think he’s a talented player. I think he has a certain skill set. He’s dedicated. He’s studied extremely hard. He has a good feel for what we’re asking him to do. I think the biggest thing for receivers is that there’s trust from the guy who throws the football. When you earn the quarterback’s trust – any one of them that we have, any one of the three – it doesn’t take you long to figure out who the quarterback trusts. It’s the ones they target. That’s a good indicator.”
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