AFC North Notes: Browns, Ravens, Steelers

Browns

Browns fourth-round WR Antonio Callaway said Saturday that he’s not going to let GM John Dorsey down after the team took a chance on him, despite the off-the-field issues he had during his college career.

“This is just telling that he believes in me, that I can do the right things,” Callaway said, via Cleveland.com. “Just not going let him down. For somebody to put their job on the line, I can’t let him down.”

Callaway mentioned that Steelers WR Antonio Brown has been mentoring him.

“(He’s) basically just been mentoring me, telling me that I have too much talent to let it go to waste,’‘ Callaway said. “Where we are from, Miami, Fla., people rarely make it out. I’m one of the few to be able to say I was blessed to be drafted by the Cleveland Browns.”

“[W]e met up a lot,” said Callaway. “I talk to him every other day. We work out, watch film.”

Ravens

• While the Ravens elected to decline WR Breshad Perriman‘s fifth-year option last week, Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun writes that it makes little sense to cut him now, even though they would save $1.5 million of cap room. Zrebiec points out that the Ravens don’t need the cap space to sign their draft pick or fill gaping holes on their roster, so they may as well see how he does in offseason workouts before cutting him loose.
• Zrebiec admits that it’s hard to see how Perriman would fit now that the Ravens have brought in Michael Crabtree, John Brown and Willie Snead this offseason. Perriman could end up fighting for one or two rosters spots along with Tim White, Quincy Adeboyejo, DeVier Posey, fourth-round pick Jaleel Scott, fifth-round pick Jordan Lasley and the undrafted free agents they sign.
• Zrebiec assumes that Oklahoma State WR James Washington was one of the players the Ravens were hoping to have fall to them in this year’s draft.
• According to Zrebiec, the Ravens also hoped to draft Miami RB Mark Walton before the Bengals grabbed him in the fourth round.
• Zrebiec believes the Ravens will think long and hard about keeping three quarterbacks this year, depending on how rookie Lamar Jackson and Robert Griffin III look this summer.
• With the Ravens drafting two tight ends, Zrebiec assumes the Ravens either aren’t confident that Darren Waller will get reinstated after his yearlong suspension or they don’t believe he’d contribute much upon returning.

Steelers

Following Ben Roethlisberger‘s recent comments that he was surprised the Steelers elected to use a third-round pick on a quarterback when they could have addressed another area of need, Mason Rudolph says he’d probably say the same thing as Big Ben if he was in his position.

“If I was Ben, I’d probably say the same thing,” Rudolph said, via NFL.com. “He’s a competitor. Obviously, he has a lot of confidence in himself, like I do and yeah, he’s going to be a future Hall of Famer and I would expect him to say that. So I’m just looking forward to going in there and learning the system, competing, raising my level of play, preparing like I’m the starter even though obviously I won’t be the starter. And just waiting and being prepared for whenever I get my time. Whenever my time comes, to be ready and take advantage of it.”