AFC Notes: Tee Higgins, Mike Vrabel, Bengals, Browns, Ravens

Bengals

Following an offseason holdout which ultimately led to a trade request, Bengals WR Tee Higgins signed the franchise tag and reported to the start of training camp. Higgins talked about what drove him to sign it and focused on shutting off the outside noise. 

“I just wanted to kill all the noise,” Higgins said, via Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic. “I was tired of everybody tweeting me and all the other bulls–t. I just wanted to kill all that and just lock in.”

“It’s really just me and my agent, at the end of the day. I’m not hearing what anybody else has to say. I’m hearing what he has to say because he has to give me the best advice. He’s my agent. That’s what he does and it’s what he does best. It’s just me and him and I’m not really worried about the outside noise.”

• Bengals QB Joe Burrow is expecting a big year out of WR Andrei Iosivas: “Andrei’s going to have a big year.” (Ben Baby)

Browns

The Browns brought in former Titans HC Mike Vrabel as a consultant this offseason after he was unable to land a head-coaching job. 

Vrabel says he wasn’t surprised he was fired by the Titans and views the Browns opportunity as as “best for [him] right now.”

“Nothing surprised me. This is my 25th NFL training camp, so I would say that nothing surprises me in the National Football League,” Vrabel said, via Pro Football Talk. “That’s part of the job. I think it’s disappointing. I think you’re disappointed that you couldn’t do the job the way that they wanted it, or they envisioned it.

“But again, this is the opportunity that I think is best for me right now to be able to go through draft meetings, personnel meetings with [G.M.] Andrew [Berry] and his staff and see how that all got navigated and how they may do things. There’s 32 flavors in this league, and everybody does it a little differently. So, it’s been fun to be a part of this and try to help where I can and most especially learn.”

As for pursuing another head-coaching opportunity, Vrabel says that it’s something he isn’t thinking about until the time comes. 

“[T]here’s a time and place for that. It’s not going to be anytime soon,” Vrabel said. “So, I think that things that I’ll ultimately learn here may help me the next time that, you know, I get an opportunity to have one of those interviews. This is what I’m focused on, focused on doing that and learning here and helping. And then, you know, if those opportunities present themselves after the season, then I’ll absolutely try to do that.”

Ravens

Ravens OL coach Joe D’Alessandris said OL Daniel Faalele is developing as a player and they are taking a look at him as a right tackle and right guard. 

“Well, I think Daniel [Faalele] now is becoming more of a good football player, in a sense,” D’Alessandris said, via RavensWire. “He’s starting to feel comfortable in his body and what he can do, and we’re working him at right tackle. We’re working him at somewhat right guard, and he’s played left tackle before. We went up to New England and beat New England when he was playing left tackle, right? That’s a big confidence [boost], what he achieved, but I just see him getting more familiar [with] what he has to do [and] how he’s got to communicate, and I think it’s just a work in progress with him. I think the more he does it, the better he’s going to become.”