AFC Notes: Bengals, Browns, Steelers

Bengals

• Wester Kentucky EDGE DeAngelo Malone has a private workout scheduled with the Bengals. (Aaron Wilson)

Browns

Browns QB Baker Mayfield said on the Ya Neva Know podcast said that he tore his labrum “completely” in Week 2 of last season and suffered a fracture after dislocating his shoulder four weeks later. 

“So I tore my labrum completely, like full front and like basically 90 percent in the back. That was Week Two. I did that in the first half. Played the rest of the game, I was fine. . . . Four weeks later, we were playing the Cardinals, and I dislocated my shoulder again. But I dislocated it so bad and at a different angle that the bone, like the humerus that goes up into your shoulder socket, like the big bone right here [that] comes up into your ball and socket and it forced its way out. And I fractured the bone because it wasn’t gonna be a clean exit. So I fractured the bone. So when I had the labrum done and that fracture, the inflammation and everything, I had no function in my left shoulder. And we were going into a Thursday game that week. Monday, I couldn’t lift my arm. When I couldn’t raise my arm, I was like, ‘I can’t do this.’”

Mayfield feels “disrespected” by the organization after earning the starting job as a rookie and making the playoffs in 2021. 

“I feel disrespected,” Mayfield said. “One-hundred percent because I was told one thing and they completely did another. That’s what I’m in the middle of right now. I got my taste of it because I’ve had four different head coaches in four years, a bunch of different coordinators. Talk about the highs? They always come back. They always come back. But I’ve had great times my rookie year. I didn’t start in the beginning. I came in and got to have fun in the back half of the year. 2019 sucked. 2020 was great, made the playoffs. 2021 was miserable.”

Mayfield came away upset by the criticism and boos received from Browns fans last season. 

“I would love to show up to somebody’s cubicle and just boo the s— out of them,” Mayfield said. “Watch them crumble.”

Although Mayfield mentioned that being traded to the Seahawks was the “most likely option,” he added that he has “no idea” where he will end up.  

“Even then, no idea,” Mayfield said. “I’m ready for the next chapter, the next opportunity because the only one I’m guaranteed with the next spot is one year. I have one more year of a guaranteed contract. I have one year wherever I go, and it’s my next interview. It’s something to put on my resume for the next job, whether it be I play that year wherever it’s gonna be and they extend me for longer or if it’s that year and I get picked up somewhere else. I know I have this one year to do as much as I possibly can. It’s not extra pressure. It’s just… I’ve been here before.”

• The Browns hosted Brown University QB E.J. Perry for a pre-draft visit on Thursday. (Tom Pelissero)

Steelers

• The Athletic’s Ed Bouchette suspects the Steelers prefer Liberty QB Malik Willis to Cincinnati QB Desmond Ridder but won’t give up a ton of picks to trade up for either. 
• Bouchette explains the Steelers only have seven picks and a lot of needs, so he doesn’t think they’ll burn multiple picks in a move up the board. 
• The pickings in free agency at wide receiver are slim but Bouchette thinks Jarvis Landry and Keelan Cole could still be good fits for the Steelers. 
• Bouchette’s betting favorites to be the next Steelers GM are either Eagles exec Andy Weidl or Packers exec John Wojciechowski. Both happen to be from Pittsburgh.