AFC Notes: Bengals, Jets, Ravens, Lamar Jackson

Bengals

• Bengals HC Zac Taylor gave an update on TE C.J. Uzomah, who suffered a PCL injury against the Chiefs: “I don’t anticipate him doing much work this week. The goal really is to see where he’s at this weekend and see where he’s going to be on Monday.” (Jay Morrison)

Jets

Jets HC Robert Saleh spoke at the Senior Bowl and said he isn’t going to hand the starting job back to LT Mekhi Becton, who saw his 2021 season fall apart. At the same time, Saleh is giving incentive to OT George Fant to retain a starting spot.

“He has to come in and reassert himself into the starting lineup,” Saleh said, via JetsWire.com. “I think Mekhi has the skill set to do whatever he wants. He just has to put his mind to it. It’d be a disservice to George and the work that he’s put in and the things he was able to do this year to just tell him that he can’t compete for that job.” 

Ravens

Ravens QB Lamar Jackson is set to enter the final year of his rookie deal on his fifth-year option. While ordinarily, that wouldn’t be a good sign to have a quarterback entering a contract year, the Ravens consistently have praised Jackson and shown zero doubt about his status as their franchise passer. Ravens GM Eric DeCosta explained the delay, citing Jackson’s lack of an agent as a major factor. 

“Well, the first thing I would say is this is an unusual negotiation, because I’ve been dealing with a player, and I would never divulge a conversation with a player,” DeCosta said via USA Today’s Robert Sobus. “So, for me to talk about it in specifics would be prohibitive.

“What I can say is that Lamar and I have had, probably, I don’t know, five or six conversations at different points over the last year in regard to his contract. We picked up his option, as you know. I think, at this point, I would say that we’re working at Lamar’s pace. He’s comfortable where we are right now. I think he feels that we have a lot of unfinished business [and] he has a lot of unfinished business. He wants to win the division. He wants to win the Super Bowl. I think he and I both share that same vision.

“So, that’s basically where we stand. There’s a great line of communication. I know that Lamar knows he can come up to see me at any point. He can call me at any point; we actually talked this week. He can text me at any point. We will operate based on his urgency. So, that’s basically where we stand. I think, right now, we want to see Lamar get healthy. We have a lot of different things we need to work on as a team. The offense is a big part of that, but there are a lot of other things we have to focus on as well.”