Dolphins

• Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa doesn’t believe that he’s playing for his job, but understands that he needs to perform better: “I haven’t heard of any of that. No social media for me….I wouldn’t say I’m playing to keep my job. I’m playing to help my team win. My performance needs to be better. And my performance doesn’t reflect me trying to keep my job. That’s not the standard I’ve played my career with.” (Omar Kelly)
• Dolphins OLB Bradley Chubb said the team kept him and his agent updated with trade inquiries and informed him that he’ll remain a member of the team this year. Next year wasn’t discussed, however. (Barry Jackson)

Jets

Jets GM Darren Mougey said the team’s fire sale at the trade deadline was not a teardown.

“I wouldn’t call it a teardown,” Mougey said, via Around The NFL.

Mougey said they’re not giving up on the team’s short-term success, despite trading both CB Sauce Gardner and DT Quinnen Williams.

“The goal is always to win,” he said. “Look, these coaches and players work too hard every day, all day, with the goal of winning on Sunday. And that never changes because that’s what the fans deserve. That’s what the players deserve, that’s what the coaches deserve, and that never changes.”

Mougey added that the Colts continually increased their offer until the value was too good to pass up.

“You never know how the future is going to unfold, and we always wanted to be in a position to potentially trade these contracts … [in] case that you get into a situation where the value you think is just too good to pass up,” Mougey said. “And that happened to be the case here.”

Mougey explained why the team opted to not trade RB Breece Hall, who could leave in free agency this offseason.

“Through these processes, we talk about a lot of things and we field a lot of calls and we’ve got values, and Breece is a talented player,” Mougey said. “He’s going to help us compete and win games the rest of the season.”

• Hall said he never requested a trade but danced around whether he would have welcomed one. (Brian Costello)

Patriots

• Mike Giardi reports that the Patriots were in the market for Dolphins OLB Jaelan Phillips before he was dealt to Philadelphia.
• Per the wire, the Patriots worked out LB Andrew Farmer, DL Viliami Fehoko and OLB D.J. Johnson.

The post AFC Notes: Sauce Gardner, Jaelan Phillips, Breece Hall, Dolphins, Jets, Patriots appeared first on NFLTradeRumors.co.