AFC Notes: Bengals, Eric Bieniemy, Chiefs, Ravens

Bengals

Former Bengals WR A.J. Green announced his retirement from the NFL this week and while he believes he could still play another few years, the veteran receiver appears to be at peace with the decision to move on. 

“It’s a blessing,” Green told Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “I played 12 years. I played for only two teams. I’m very blessed. I have my health. The big thing for me is I can walk away on my own terms knowing I did everything the right way. . . . Physically I could play a couple of more years, but mentally it’s tougher. You know me. If I’m not fully invested in, I’m cheating the game and it was time to walk away.”

Green says he plans to root for the Bengals from here.

“Miranda is like, ‘Now we can root for the Bengals again,‘” Green said of his wife. “That’s my team now. I want those guys to win. I’m a big fan of Joe [Burrow] and those guys. One thing about the Bengals, they’ll draft the skill players unbelievably. They always do well. I hope they can keep all those boys in.”

Chiefs

Chiefs owner Clark Hunt believes OC Eric Bieniemy will be a great head coach when he is finally hired by a franchise after having his name in the coaching cycle for the past few seasons.

“He’s been a huge part of the success that we’ve had over the last four or five years,” Hunt said, via Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post. “He’s a great offensive coordinator. [Head coach Andy Reid] and I have both been on record saying he’d make an awesome head coach in the NFL, and I still believe that. I’ve seen his name mentioned in conjunction with a few offensive coordinator opportunities around the league, and I’m not surprised by that, given the success that we had, particularly this year.”

Ravens

• The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec notes if the Ravens don’t come to an agreement on a long-term deal with QB Lamar Jackson, they’ll have to use the franchise tag and allocate as much as $45 million of their 2023 cap space. That will make re-signing some of their free agents hard. 
• For instance, Zrebiec says G Ben Powers cemented himself as a starting caliber player this offseason and is looking at a substantial deal, which as things stand right now is more likely to come from a different team than the Ravens. 
• The other prominent free agent is CB Marcus Peters, and while Zrebiec points out the comfort level between the Ravens and Peters goes a long way, there’s still a question of if the money will be right for either side. 
• Other pending free agents like TE Josh Oliver, OLB Justin Houston, and RB Justice Hill are players Zrebiec thinks the Ravens would like to have back and should be able to re-sign at an affordable rate.