AFC Notes: Bengals, Ravens, Steelers

Bengals

Bengals QB Joe Burrow fell just short of his first Super Bowl championship but feels the team will be back more than once over the next few years.

“We’re a young team,” Burrow said, via NFL.com. “I’d like to think we’ll be back in this situation multiple times over the course of the next few years. We take this and let it fuel you for the rest of our careers.”

Bengals HC Zac Taylor spoke about the playcalling at the end of the game, which has drawn criticism due to the choice to hand the ball off to RB Samaje Perine.

“Yeah, they were getting a little softer and we thought we could steal a first down there and come back and take some shots at the end zone,” Taylor said, via Jay Morrison of The Athletic. “Just didn’t work out.”

Both Taylor and Burrow commented on the protection by the offensive line throughout the game.

“I thought in the first half, the protection was tremendous,” Taylor said. “In the second half, we called some passes and it got difficult. Everyone is just going to say it’s the offensive line. We have to see how exactly that played out. Don’t ever want a quarterback to get hit, but that’s life in the NFL sometimes.”

“You’ve got to give credit to (the Rams),” Burrow said. “They played their tails off for those four plays and stopped us on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1, so credit to them. I thought for the most part they (Bengals OL) played really well. They fought. I was proud of the way they fought all season. We all have to get better individually, myself included.”

Ravens

• Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic mentions some cost-cutting candidates and the savings they would provide for the Ravens including WR Miles Boykin ($2.54 million), OT Ja’Wuan James ($3 million), TE Josh Oliver ($1.07 million), CB Marcus Peters ($10 million), G Ben Powers ($2.54 million), P Sam Koch ($2.1 million), T Alejandro Villanueva ($6 million), DT Derek Wolfe ($200,000), CB Tavon Young ($5.85 million). 
• Out of that bunch, Zrebiec notes James, Oliver, Peters and Powers are likely to be back. Villanueva could retire and the Ravens could work out some kind of pay cut with Young. 
• Towering veteran DL Calais Campbell is set to become a free agent but announced that he would be coming back for his 15th NFL season: “The feeling I have after seeing them celebrate a world championship, I have a desire to play football and compete. I’m definitely not retiring. I’m coming back.” (Jamison Hensley)

Steelers

• According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, Steelers WR Chase Claypool could be a trade target by other teams this offseason, who will look to get him cheaply due to his reported maturity issues. (Andrew Filipponi)