AFC Notes: Bengals, Raiders, Titans

Bengals

• Paul Dehner Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the Bengals are expected to retain QBs coach Alex Van Pelt, WRs coach Bob Bicknell, and quarterbacks assistant Dan Pitcher.
• Dehner Jr. adds that the Bengals are expected to hire Texas A&M OL coach Jim Turner to the same position and James Casey as their next tight ends coach.
• According to Ian Rapoport, the Bengals were among the teams to place a waiver claim for LB Tanner Vallejo. However, the Cardinals had the higher waiver priority. 

Raiders

• Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk mentions that there was a “clear sense” at the Super Bowl that the Raiders will eventually end up playing in Oakland for the 2019 season. 
• Florio lays out a scenario where the NFL tells the 49ers to choose between letting the Raiders play in San Francisco or inviting them to share Levi’s Stadium. If the 49ers were to choose to share Levi’s Stadium, Florio says the NFL would tell the Raiders to choose between San Francisco or Oakland. 
• Raj Mathai of NBC Sports mentions a number of issues regarding the Oakland Raiders using the San Francisco Giants’ Oracle Park, including the Giants “learning how challenging” it is to work with the Raiders, as well as the NFL attempting to “broker” a deal with the 49ers, who have territorial rights over San Francisco. 
• In addition, Mathai writes that City of Oakland Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan said that a deal for the Raiders to remain at Oakland Coliseum is “still on the table.”

Titans

New Titans OC Arthur Smith mentioned that RB Derrick Henry is going to be a “big part” of the team’s offense next year. 

“Derrick will be a big part of the offense,” Smith said, via Turron Davenport of ESPN. “He has a rare skill set. Derrick’s a home-run hitter. We are taking another step hopefully with him. What he did over the last five weeks will open up a lot of things.

“Zone (run scheme) is a great starting point for us, but there are a lot of schemes that fit Derrick and fit Dion [Lewis], or whoever else will be on our roster that we will hand the ball [to]. Gaps, pin and pulls, zone reads, but there’s a certain mentality that we want to play with coming off the football. We want to be physical and knock people back.”