Dolphins
Dolphins CB Artie Burns spoke about how meaningful it is for him to return to Miami, where he attended high school and was a dual athlete in track and football. He also believes that he can truly showcase his talents in the team’s defense.
“Being born and raised in Miami, to be a professional here, is a dream come true,” Burns said, via Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. “Miami had the best opportunity for me to show my talents. I can play corner and nickel; those are the things they want to see me do. I definitely want to be around the ball more to make more plays. Nickel can highlight that for me. Both positions present a bunch of opportunities.”
Jets
Jets’ recently signed DL Derrick Nnadi pointed out that he typically has a quiet demeanor but shows more personality when he produces on the field.
“I don’t really talk much,” Nnadi said, via Randy Lange of the team’s site. “I kind of let my play do my talking. And when I celebrate … you’ve got to see me when I start freaking out and being ‘Nnadi’.”
Nnadi arrived in New York after spending the first seven years of his career with the Chiefs. He feels playing the game with “respect” has been important for him.
“Through the ups and through the downs, it’s all about trusting the process,” Nnadi said. “When you’re losing, you’ve got to take it on the chin and learn from it. When you’re winning, you’ve got to be respectful, like you’ve been there before, and be respectful to your opponent. So it’s all about the respect factor as well as taking every single thing as it is that day.”
As for why he signed with the Jets, Nnadi explained he sees potential in the team.
“Honestly, I felt it was just a good opportunity here,” Nnadi said. “They’re trying to build up something wonderful and I want to be part of it.”
Patriots
New Patriots WR Stefon Diggs noted that he is excited to work with QB Drake Maye and compared him to his former teammate in Buffalo, QB Josh Allen.
“I’m excited,” Diggs said. “I really look forward to it. It’s crazy because when you ask around, he has a lot of similarities — people say through the grapevine, he acts a lot like Josh. That was my guy, so I look forward to meeting and connecting with him.”
“Seeing that I got the experience, I’ve been doing this for ten and a half years — I always add the half now — but I’ve played with a lot of quarterbacks,” Diggs added. “I’ve been around a lot of quarterbacks, so learning the quarterback, getting to know him, spending more time with him. Once you know somebody on a more personal level, I feel like it’s a lot of carry-over to the field, whether they’re risk-takers or like to play aggressive, like to play smart, and just honing in on what he’s good at. We played him last year. He shows a lot of fight. He got that fiery quarterback, ‘I want to win’ mindset. That’s something that I get excited about and love to be around. But, as far as his development as a quarterback, I feel like that’s not really too much of my job. My job is to get up and catch the ball. I just look forward to getting back out there and being one of the weapons for him.”
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