NFL Notes: Bengals, Lions, Ravens, & Vikings

Bengals

Bill Barnwell of ESPN offers five roster moves he’d like to see from the Bengals this offseason in his latest article.

• With the Bengals having a number of free agents in their secondary, Barnwell suggests trying to re-sign some of this group that consists of S George Iloka, S Reggie Nelson, CB Leon Hall and CB Adam Jones. The one player who Barnwell thinks they should consider addressing is Iloka, who is just 25 years old.
• From there, Barnwell thinks they may have to decide between keeping either Mohamed Sanu or Marvin Jones.
• Barnwell recommends signing G Kevin Zeitler to a contract extension.
  As for free agent additions, Barnwell believes they should look for more help at defensive end and tosses out Aldon Smith or Quinton Coples as two “reclamation projects” worth considering.
• The last move for the Bengals, according to Barnwell, is to pick up TE Tyler Eifert‘s fifth-year option, which seems like an easy decision for them.

Lions

Lions president Rod Wood mentioned during an interview Thursday that he spoke to WR Calvin Johnson this week, but he’s still undecided about playing another year.

“It’s still in Calvin’s camp to make a decision. I talked to him on Monday,” Wood said, per Mike O’Hara. “Bob Quinn (Lions GM) talked to him. Calvin has not made a decision.”

Wood added that they plan to support Johnson no matter what he ultimately decides.

“If he wants to come back, we’d love to have him back. If he decides to retire, we’re going to support that, too,” Wood said, per O’Hara.

• Wood also said that he has “no reason to believe” LB DeAndre Levy won’t be healthy for the start of training camp. (Mike O’Hara)

Ravens

Bill Barnwell of ESPN offers five roster moves he’d like to see from the Ravens this offseason.

• The first of which is to re-sign OL Kelechi Osemele. In order to free up some cap space for this move, Barnwell suggests trying to find a trade partner for Eugene Monroe.
• Another move that would make a good deal of sense for Baltimore is to sign Joe Flacco to an extension that will offer them some more cap relief.
• Barnwell recommends designation TE Dennis Pitta as a post-June 1 release, which will create $5 million in cap space for them to work with later this summer.
• The Ravens could also create some cap room by releasing CB Lardarius Webb, who will count $9.5 million against their cap in 2016.
• The last move Barnwell suggests is to target some cornerback help in free agency with Janoris Jenkins possibly being someone worth considering, depending on what they can do with their cap situation.

Vikings

Bill Barnwell takes a look at five roster moves he believes the Vikings should make this offseason.

• At the top of Barnwell’s list is releasing WR Mike Wallace and OT Matt Kalil. Both players have the highest cap figures on the team and the Vikings wouldn’t take on any dead money by cutting either of them.
• Cutting Kalil would create an obvious roster need at left tackle, but Barnwell thinks free agents such as Russell Okung, Kelvin Beachum, Cordy Glenn and Kelechi Osemele could make sense for the Vikings.
• Barnwell recommends addressing S Harrison Smith‘s contract by signing him to an extension, possibly close to the five-year, $47 million deal Patriots’ Devin McCourty got last year.
• Another move that could make sense for Minnesota is to sign Bengals CB Leon Hall, given that he’s worked with Mike Zimmer in the past.
• The last suggestion from Barnwell is to add some receiver depth with Travis Benjamin and Andre Holmes being two speculative options.