AFC Notes: Broncos, Chiefs, Orlando Brown, Raiders

Broncos

Broncos’ new HC Sean Payton said they must avoid putting too much pressure on Russell Wilson and surround him with a successful defense and running game. 

“Two greatest allies for a quarterback are defense and a run game,” Payton said, via Chris Simms. “We need to take him off the high dive the whole time. He’ll need to be there six-to-eight times per game though.”

Chiefs

Chiefs LT Orlando Brown played under the franchise tag this season and isn’t thrilled that he hasn’t received a long-term deal since joining Kansas City via a trade with the Ravens.

Brown mentioned that while he prefers to stay with the team, he is willing to go anywhere the business takes him.

“Yeah, absolutely, I want to stay here, but the business is the business,” Brown said, via Pro Football Talk. “Things happen. Whatever happens, man, I’ll be prepared to go.”

Brown rejected the Chiefs’ offer before the July 15th deadline that included $38 million fully guaranteed at signing, as he wanted a $40 million signing bonus and an average of $25 million per season.

He was willing to say that he has it in the back of his mind at this point as he heads into the Super Bowl.

“Honestly, I haven’t put much thought into it,” Brown said. “To me, I was brought here to win Super Bowls. I’m here. Do you know what I mean? That’s really what’s been on my mind.”

We have him included in our Top 100 – 2023 NFL Free Agents list.

Raiders

Raiders’ impending free agent RB Josh Jacobs said there was a weird atmosphere around their locker room following Derek Carr being benched.

“It was definitely weird, man,” Jacobs said, via ProFootballTalk. “Just like, you can kind of see the signs that something was going to happen. The season we were having — we lost that last game [to the Steelers] where we knew we weren’t going to go to the playoffs because we had to win out. We knew that our playoff hopes were over. So we already kind of knew that they were about to shake some stuff up because they didn’t have anything to lose at that point. But we didn’t know it was going to be like that.”

Jacobs credited Jarrett Stidham for stepping into the starting role and becoming a leader. 

“Stiddy stepped into that role and I saw Stiddy literally become from a guy that barely spoke to a guy that was vocal and being a leader,” Jacobs said. “I was just like OK, let’s ride with him.”

Jacobs said their back-to-back losses against the Saints and Jaguars were big indicators that their season was turning south. 

“I remember New Orleans beat us [the week before]. They beat us, they whooped us. Shout out to them,” Jacobs said. “We blew it. And that’s when I kind of knew. Because I was like, man, besides two games, every game that we’d lost, we lost by less than a touchdown. So I was like, clearly, we’re not figuring it out. Whatever it is we’re missing, we’re there, but we’re not there. We’re not close enough. That’s kind of when I was like, man, I don’t know how this season is about to go.”

We have him included in our Top 100 – 2023 NFL Free Agents list.