Bengals
Bengals S Bryan Cook is returning to his hometown of Cincinnati this season after a successful stint with the Chiefs. He is ready to bring his championship experience back home and make an impact for the team.
“It comes with certain expectations,” Cook says of his return, via the team website. “Realizing you can’t make everybody happy, you can’t live up to everyone’s expectations of you. It’s a challenging transformation. I feel like because I already went through that, that’s why I’m able to embrace coming back home. It’s an understanding of what I’m here to do. I’m not here to play games or mess around with the gift God gave me to give back to my hometown. There’s a bunch of different ways. But the inspiration from winning games for the city, it’s an amazing opportunity despite it all. I get to raise my kids here. You have questions, doubts, thoughts. But coming back home and seeing certain things, it gives me a stronger sense of self.”
Browns
Browns DE Jared Verse and LT Spencer Fano have battled through training camp and are pushing each other to improve, with things spilling over into a small scuffle.
Verse personally enjoyed the fighting and trash-talking and is happy the rookie tackle chose to fight back, as he feels fighting is part of the sport and wants Fano to play aggressively as well.
“I think fighting’s necessary when it comes to football,” Verse said, via Pro Football Talk. “I’m very disrespectful when it comes to the way I compete, especially when I try to drive my teammates to another level. So I wouldn’t expect him any less than to retaliate because that’s the type of player he is.”
“Going against him, he’s gotten so much better these past couple weeks,” Verse continued. “In the time we’ve been together, he’s gotten so much better, and because he’s getting better, he’s getting to the point where I’m starting to learn things from him. I’m learning my tendencies and what he’s picking up on, so it’s making me a better player as well. A lot of rookies would go against me, against top edges in the league, and back down, be a little nervous, be a little timid, but he’s never shown that.”
Browns
Browns HC Todd Monken was impressed with how QB Deshaun Watson played in his first preseason game with the team as he looks to come back from a torn ACL and poor play.
“It was awesome,” Monken said, via The Athletic. “It was so cool to watch him play. I get all of the frustration by fans, himself (with the past), but for him to come back and work like he did is an unbelievable credit to him. He was having fun today, and I thought he really functioned at a high level.”
Watson added that he was excited to get back on the field after a long layoff.
“I felt good, felt excited just to be back on the field,” Watson said. “It was good to just go through pregame, get warmed up, take the field for the first time in I don’t even know how long it has been.”
Monken added that Watson, like every other quarterback, has much to improve on, but he was pleased with the overall play of the group.
“I was really pleased with our quarterback play,” Monken said. “It’s not going to feel like that (when) you turn it over three times, that’s never ideal. But to me, it felt like we are going to be able to throw the football.”
- Per Monken, there is no update on fifth-round TE Joe Royer, who hasn’t practiced during camp due to personal reasons. Monken is hopeful they get Royer back soon, but he said he can’t speak to that. (Zac Jackson)
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