AFC North Notes: Browns, Ravens, Steelers

Browns

Browns LBs coach Blake Williams mentioned that they’re excited about the addition of LB Mychal Kendricks and what he could bring to their linebacking corps.

“Our linebackers, especially our veteran linebackers in the room, are excited about what he could potentially bring to not just the room but the defense,” Williams said, via Cleveland.com. “Also culturally, kind of like (Collins) a couple years ago, another guy who just got off a Super Bowl championship, has won in this league, has played in multiple different systems under multiple different people but has had success in this league. So (he’ll be) able to bring how to do that to a relatively young  roster that hasn’t maybe done it at this level.”

Williams explained that Kendricks will likely start out as their weakside linebacker, but they could still move him around a bit.

“Being more in the box, run front, blitzing, covering backs and tight ends from the Will is what he’s done,” said Williams. “That’s where he’ll definitely start out from the get-go to make sure that it’s as seamless a transition as possible. As he can take more, we can move him around more, but we want him to have confidence and success to start out with.”

Ravens

• Edward Lee of the Baltimore Sun writes that there will be a lot of eyes on Ravens DE Brent Urban this summer after he missed the final 13 games last season with a Lisfranc injury.
• If Urban is unable to return to his prior form, Lee says that Carl Davis or Willie Henry could be poised to earn more playing time.
• According to Lee, there will be some pressure on Bronson Kaufusi and Chris Wormley to produce as pass rushers if Brandon Williams and Michael Pierce can contribute more as interior rushers.

Steelers

Adisa Bakari, the agent for Steelers RB Le’Veon Bell, confirmed the report that his client is likely to skip training camp for the second straight season (NFLTR), but report to the team in time for the 2018 season.

“Barring something exceptional…that is correct,” Bakari tells Sirius XM NFL Radio.

Bakari also said that the report they turned down a five-year, $70 million contract from Pittsburgh is not accurate.

“No matter what that final number was and I am certainly not saying that what has been reported is accurate because it’s not, quite frankly — the most important element of it is the guarantee,” Bakari said. “You couple that with the traditional way in which Pittsburgh does it’s deals, which, at the end of the day, nothing’s guaranteed after the first year.”

• Regarding his report on Monday that the Steelers offered Bell $70 million over five years, Ian Rapoport adds that the contract included just over $10 million fully guaranteed and he would have made $33 million in the first two years of the deal and $45 million over three.