AFC Notes: Bengals, Broncos, Steelers

Bengals

• According to Matthew Paras of the Washington Times, the Bengals are interested in Redskins OL coach Bill Callahan.
• Paras notes that Callahan was soon-to-be Bengals HC Zac Taylor‘s head coach while he was the quarterback at the University of Nebraska.

Broncos

• Nicki Jhabvala reports that the Broncos are retaining RBs coach Curtis Modkins for next season.
• According to Mike Klis, the Broncos are not expected to retain QBs coach Mike Sullivan.
• Klis writes that there is a “good chance” the Broncos will retain assistant OL coach Chris Kuper on new OL coach Mike Munchak‘s staff and is scheduled to interview for the position next week.
• Although the Broncos would like to retain impending free-agent C Matt Paradis, Klis says he’s expected to test the open market. We have him featured in our Top 50 – 2019 NFL Free Agents list.

Steelers

Steelers owner Art Rooney II defended team against questions about their perceived culture issues.

“I certainly don’t think we have a culture problem,” Rooney said, via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “We won 13 games [in 2017], so if you have a culture problem, if you have a discipline problem on your team, those kind of teams don’t win 13 games in the National Football League. Those are the facts we have to deal with.”

“The bottom line is when you point to last year and everybody talks about the drama, that was a team that won 13 games,” Rooney added. “The first test for me is the performance on the field. Are we winning games? Do we have a winning culture? I think the record speaks for itself.”

Rooney also defended HC Mike Tomlin, who has come under fire in recent years.

“Our fans judge us primarily on wins and losses,” Rooney said. “This team has won pretty consistently under Mike [Tomlin’s] tenure here. When you look at the season, we’re disappointed we didn’t make the playoffs, obviously, but we finished a half-game out of winning our division and were in it down to the last plays of the season.”