AFC Notes: Bengals, Browns, Steelers

Bengals

• The Cincinnati Bengals announced that they’ve hired former Southeastern DC Louie Cioffi as a Defensive Quality Control coach. 

Browns

Georgia OLB Azeez Ojulari said he’s imagined about teaming up with Browns DE Myles Garrett. 

“Yeah, I have,” Ojulari said, via Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “That would be sick. It would be ridiculous man, trying to race him to the quarterback, see who gets there first. It’s going to be a competition in everything we do, no matter what it is. It would be great to add things that he knows to my game and try to get there with him.’‘

Ojulari says it would be a great opportunity to play alongside Garrett and learn from him at the next level. 

“Myles is a freak of nature,” Ojulari said. “He’s a beast. It would be great to have someone like that on your team just to learn from him, a vet who’s been there, done everything at the highest of the league. Just learning from a guy like that, that would be phenomenal. He’s a freaky athlete.”

According to Ojulari, the Browns are evaluating him on film and has had several meetings with the organization. 

“They’re trying to get to know me and we watched some film and they showed me what they do,” Ojulari said. “Everything is smooth and nice so far in the meetings, and it’s going well.”

• The Browns have spoken a bunch with Merrimack G Sam Cooper. (Justin Melo)

Steelers

There would appear to be a path for Steelers OL B.J. Finney to start at center after signing back with Pittsburgh following a year away in 2020. The only other center on the roster right now is J.C. Hassenauer. However, Finney noted he’s been promised nothing but the chance to compete. 

“They just painted it with a broad-brush stroke,” Finney said via Teresa Varley of the team’s website. “Coach Tomlin told me my fate is in my hands and we will see where it leads. We always have control over it. It’s just a matter of opportunities rolling our way. It’s nice to be in more control than I had prior to. If that is where they want me to play, at center, I will accept the challenge.

“That is a legacy that is hard to live up to in Pittsburgh with all of the great centers we have been fortunate to have as an organization. To throw my name into the ring, to have the opportunity to be one of those centers, is amazing in itself. It’s not something to be taken lightly, and I am not. I want to do the best that I can, and the best I know how to do it is how I have been raised to do it. Coach T knows that and sees that, and we will see where it leads.”