AFC Notes: Deshaun Watson, Bengals, Browns, Steelers

Bengals

Regarding the NFL’s new kickoff rules, Bengals’ ST coordinator Darrin Simmons said “everybody is concerned” about the potential outcome of the new system. 

“Like with anything, everybody is concerned about the unintended consequences and the unknown stuff,” Simmons said, via Jay Morrisson of ProFootballNetwork. 

Simmons added the entire league was disappointed with how kickoffs were being approached last season with a return rate of just 22 percent. With the new rules, Simmons is hopeful there will be more returns and fewer injuries given there’s a reduced rate of speed from the coverage unit under the new layout. 

Nobody was happy with the way the 2023 season went for the kickoff return game,” Simmons said. “Ony 22% of kicks were returned. Nobody wants that. We’d essentially taken away — legislated, if you want to call it that — the play out of the game. This accomplishes a couple of things. Hopefully the return rate will be higher. And with the reduction of speed and space, hopefully, the injury numbers will trend downward, and the injury rate will be closer to what it is for an offensive or defensive play. That’s always been the argument, that there were more injuries per play on kickoffs than there were on any other play in the game.”

Simmons mentioned the new rules may change how teams approach their gameday rosters. 

“That’s gonna be part of the evolution of figuring all of this out,” Simmons said. “As the rules are right now, our roster limit is 48 active guys. And we still have first-, second-, and third-downs that we have to accommodate and are also part of the game. I would think that, maybe a guy or two, here or there, this could affect our thinking maybe of who we keep or who we keep active. But again, we’re still limited by the numbers of active players we can keep up for a game.”

Browns

Browns GM Andrew Berry isn’t anticipating any setbacks in QB Deshaun Watson‘s recovery.

“All the medical work that’s been done at this point in time, Deshaun’s recovery so far, it’s been really positive,” Berry said, via PFT. “We’re not anticipating any issues.”

Steelers

Steelers owner Art Rooney said their approach this offseason is to try and improve “as quickly as possible.” 

“Every year we try to figure out how we get better and how do we get better as quickly as possible,” Rooney said, via Joe Rutter of Tribune Live. “I think that’s the bottom line: try to get better as quickly as possible.”

Steelers GM Omar Khan said the entire organization shares Rooney’s frustration and they feel a sense of urgency to win. 

“I think we all share that frustration that he has,” Khan said. “I mean, we’re sitting at home watching the Super Bowl, and that’s not where we want to be. I think we all share that frustration, and we know we all have to be better organizationally — every department in the organization.”

Rooney is comfortable with how Pittsburgh has approached free agency and they are now looking ahead to the 2024 NFL Draft. 

“I like where we are so far,” Rooney said. “The draft is the next priority. We have to do good with the draft.”