Browns

Browns QB Dillon Gabriel was asked if he felt disrespected by not being mentioned in the race for the team’s starting quarterback job, even after earning recent praise and more reps from QB Todd Monken.

“Never disrespected,” Gabriel told reporters, via Pro Football Talk. “I don’t take things personally; it’s a business. I’m focused on what I need to do to get better, and that’s all I’m focused on. I’m present with that.”

“I’m really just focused on mastering my reps,” Gabriel continued. “I really appreciate [pass game coordinator] Danny Bryer and [senior director of player development] James Cook. James Cook and [offensive skill development specialist] Demetric Felton are big on walkthroughs in the morning, which helps set me up for a good day. And afterwards with Danny Bryer, a guy I’ve really leaned on, getting coached up — three or five reps, talking through it as best I can and improving. And same with [assistant quarterbacks] coach [Matt] Baker, he’s been really good for me.”

“Yeah, I don’t really care about numbers,” Gabriel added when asked about losing his jersey number. “My freshman year in high school, I remember I got pulled up to varsity wearing 96. . . . No, no attachment to any numbers. There may be some cool things to certain numbers that everyone tells themselves once they get a new number, but for the most part it’s just a number.”

Ravens

Ravens RT Roger Rosengarten said improving as a run blocker is one of his biggest goals entering his third NFL season.

“I definitely want to assert my dominance in the run game,” Rosengarten said, via the team’s website. “Throughout my high school and college career, I have definitely been in a more pass-heavy offense. I really want to assert my dominance there. I feel like I have done a great job working on that this offseason and through OTAs, and now going into training camp, it is time to put it all together and put it on film.”

Rosengarten said he focused heavily on conditioning this offseason so he can maintain his level of play during long drives in Baltimore’s faster-paced offense.

“I really challenged myself to be in the best shape possible, cardio-wise,” Rosengarten said. “This offseason, myself and a few other guys in the league — and my roommate -we challenged ourselves to really push our pace when it comes to cardio. If I [wear out] the defensive lineman in front of me, and I know that I can do that for 12 to 13-play drives, it is going to be good.”

Rosengarten said the Ravens need to improve their ability to finish games after letting too many fourth-quarter opportunities slip away over the past two seasons.

“As a player, and as a team, finishing in the fourth quarter has not been our best,” Rosengarten said. “I feel like that is not Ravens football. We talk about Ravens football and the history behind it. I feel like in way too many games in my first and second year, we left it on the table. You have to leave everything out on the line, and if you do that, I think you cannot be upset with the result, and the results will show in wins.”

Steelers

Steelers WR DK Metcalf said his connection with QB Aaron Rodgers is poised to improve significantly in their second season together after the two spent last year learning how to work with one another.

“Number one for the reasons he spoke on earlier, we definitely got a chance to know each other on a more intimate level,” Metcalf said, via Steelers Wire. “Last year we were still like teammates, I didn’t want to mess up, he didn’t want to mess up. We were just like not on the same page a couple times. But it’s gonna be special this year.”

Metcalf said a pre-training camp trip helped the Steelers offense align on its goals and build stronger personal connections before returning to the field.

“No, I think it happened at the perfect time, right before training camp so we can all go in with the same accord,” Metcalf answered. “We know what we came to do. We spoke on goals, we spoke on family, spoke on what we gotta get better at and spoke on life. And that’s all I need to hear from somebody.”