Browns
Browns DE Za’Darius Smith is arriving in Cleveland with high expectations.
“My main goal right now is get a (Super Bowl) ring,” Smith said, via the Akron Beacon Journal’s Chris Easterling. “That’s something that I never have experienced. So that’s the No. 1 goal is help this team win a Super Bowl. Well, first of all, win the (AFC) North, well, win the division, sorry, and then go on and play in the Super Bowl. Cause that’s where it starts. I feel like if you set goals, it got to start from there. If you don’t win a division, it’s really not a possibility of going to the Super Bowl. … A lot of guys don’t focus on that, they just talk about the Super Bowl, but the main goal is to win the division first, be on top and hopefully go the playoffs, get a bye and go from there.”
Another defensive player the Browns added this offseason, S Juan Thornhill, also backed up Smith’s expectations. Thornhill arrives in Cleveland after four years with the Chiefs, who have been the class of the league in that time. Thornhill’s hoping to bring a little bit of what he learned to the Browns as they’ll have to go through the Chiefs to get to where they want to go.
Ravens
Ravens LB Patrick Queen didn’t have to be at OTAs. They’re voluntary and it would have been understandable if he was miffed at the team for declining his fifth-year option and drafting a potential replacement in third-round LB Trenton Simpson. But Queen showed up to put his best foot forward in what will be a pivotal contract year for him.
“I truly enjoy working with that guy,” Ravens LB Roquan Smith said via the Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec. “I think he’s a pro at the end of the day. He’s out here to get better with the guys. He’s just trying to make this year his best year thus far. I’m excited to just be next to him, playing with him and making each other better.”
Steelers
Former NFL RB Le’Veon Bell admitted he does have some regrets about how the end of his career played out, starting with his holdout from Pittsburgh in the midst of a contract dispute. With the benefit of hindsight, Bell says he’d have taken the contract offer that was on the table and not sat out an entire season.
“Yeah, it was a little petty, the little guarantee stuff,” Bell said on the Steel Here podcast. “I’m thinking like, damn, could I have really just ate it? Yeah, I probably could’ve. Probably could’ve really ate it.”
“We kept going back and forth. It literally was the guarantee. They weren’t budging off of it, and I wasn’t budging off of it. I didn’t want to leave Pittsburgh. At the end of the day, that’s where I was at. That’s where I got drafted at. Especially after going to different teams and seeing how it is. When a team has their guy, you’re their guy. I was Pittsburgh’s guy.”
Bell says he would still like to retire with the Steelers.
“I never officially retired,” Bell said. “The day when I do retire, it’s going to be with Pittsburgh. Like, I’m trying to retire with Pittsburgh. But before I do that, I might be like, ‘Hey, let me get a couple carries in the preseason so I can show you all something.’”
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