AFC Notes: Bengals, Dolphins, Titans

Bengals

Bengals owner Mike Brown told reporters on Tuesday that he respects HC Marvin Lewis and has confidence him moving forward, even though Lewis is set to enter the final year of his contract with the team.

“Marvin has been here for a long time. As long as any coach with a team except for (Bill) Belichick,” said Brown, via Bengals.com. “That should tell you how I feel about him. He has my respect, my regard, my confidence. We’ve been through this before.

“Sometimes it was an additional prod. Heck, we all know how it went last year.  We wish it had gone better, so maybe we’ll see a better year this year and things will sort out then.”

Even so, Brown didn’t rule out signing Lewis to an extension midseason.

“It doesn’t matter what I have going into this season. Whether I had a contract or not,” Lewis said. “In the NFL, professional sports, doesn’t really matter. My contract has no bearing on this football team for the 2017 season and that’s what is important.”

Dolphins

• Dolphins HC Adam Gase said he’s “confident” LB Koa Misi will play football again, despite suffering a serious neck injury last year. (Barry Jackson)
• Gase mentioned that he’s fine if C Mike Pouncey (hip) did “nothing” during training camp, even though Pouncey plans to practice.

Titans

Titans QB Marcus Mariota said he feels great is looking forward to training camp.

“I feel great,” Mariota said Tuesday, via TitansOnline.com. “With camp starting on Friday I think my body is in good shape, and I can’t wait to get it going.

“I will be ready to go with everything. I will be full-go practice, and I will be able to do everything with the guys. And I am excited about that because I wasn’t able to do it in OTAs. It should be a lot of fun.”

While Mariota has dealt with some injuries during his first few years in the NFL, Mariota explained that he and the coaching staff still feel he could be more effective at a lower weight.

“Once the season was done it was a combination of the Titans staff and myself (deciding on the weight), and we wanted to focus on what playing weight would help me be the best at,” Mariota said. “And I think right around 215-218 is what I played at in college and I was able to run around and do some things. So that was the focus. If it doesn’t happen, if it doesn’t work out, I can always gain weight. But 218 is probably the best weight to play at and I’ll probably try and stick around there throughout the season.”