AFC North Notes: Bengals, Browns, Ravens, Steelers

Bengals

• According to the Athletic’s Jay Morrison, Bengals CB Darius Phillips is progressing well and will likely be the second player Cincinnati designates to return from injured reserve. 
• Bengals WR A.J. Green is day-to-day with his ankle injury and did not practice Wednesday. (Tyler Dragon)
• Bengals LB Preston Brown started the path toward his eventual release not even a year into his three-year $16.5 million deal by showing up to training camp overweight, even more than the 255 pounds he was listed at, despite talking about cutting weight to 240 during the offseason. (Paul Dehner Jr.)
• Dehner adds he expects Cincinnati to move on from QB Andy Dalton, CB Dre Kirkpatrick, DE Carlos Dunlap and OT Cordy Glenn, which should clear $45 million in cap space. 

Browns

• Josina Anderson reports that the Browns are currently not planning to attend Colin Kaepernick’s workout Saturday. However, Anderson adds that it’s possible the team could have a change of heart, considering that they plan on Thursday. 
• The Browns officially ruled out S Eric Murray (knee) and DE Olivier Vernon (knee) for Thursday’s game and list T Kendall Lamm (knee) and TE Ricky Seals-Jones (knee) as questionable.

Ravens

• According to ESPN’s Josina Anderson, a Ravens source said the team would have interest in free-agent QB Colin Kaepernick if the team’s depth at quarterback was impacted: “He’d fit us as a player, but we have our guys.”

Steelers

While not ideal, the loss of QB Ben Roethlisberger for the season with an elbow injury has given the Steelers a long look at QB Mason Rudolph, who was selected in the third round in 2018. Steelers OC Randy Fichtner has been impressed with how the young passer has improved every game this season, culminating in a win against the Rams Sunday to push Pittsburgh to 5-4 after a 1-4 start. 

“I think it was his best game of consistently making decisions and putting the ball in proper spots,” Fichtner said via the team website. “That led to opportunities down the field. And he did a nice job with it, put balls in places we could catch them.”

• The Steelers officially ruled out RB Roosevelt Nix (knee), RB Benny Snell (knee), and WR Ryan Switzer (back) for Thursday’s game and list LB Anthony Chickillo (rib) and CB Joe Haden (illness) as questionable.