AFC Notes: Diontae Johnson, Cam Taylor-Britt, Kevin Stefanski, Bengals, Browns, Ravens

Bengals

The Bengals benched CB Cam Taylor-Britt in Week 11’s loss to the Chargers. Zac Taylor said Taylor-Britt is working on being more consistent and the team still has high expectations for him. 

“He’s working on it,” Taylor said, via Ben Baby of ESPN. “We talk about it a lot. We still have high expectations for him.”

Bengals CB Eli Apple is confident Taylor-Britt will be fine if he continues working on being consistent with his approach. 

“Nobody’s ever going to be perfect, but if you continue to work and continue to be consistent in the way you approach the game, everything’s going to be fine for him,” Apple said. “He got too much talent for him not to be on the field.”

Apple thinks some of Taylor-Britt’s issues are related to simple mental mistakes. 

“It’s all mental, honestly,” Apple said. “Just understanding the situation and understanding when to be aggressive, when not to be aggressive and just staying true to your technique.”

Browns

• Browns HC Kevin Stefanski was asked about rumblings that he’s on the hot seat: “I get that’s part of this gig. That’s life in the big city. My sole focus is getting this team ready to get a win on Thursday night.” (Tony Grossi)
• The Browns have ruled out OT Jedrick Wills Jr. (knee) and TE Geoff Swaim (concussion) from Week 13, via Chris Easterling. 

Ravens

• When taking a look at 2025’s top potential free agents, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler writes he could see the Ravens retaining OT Ronnie Stanley because of his “legacy” in Baltimore after nine years on the team.
• However, Fowler points out that Baltimore typically lets free agents walk and fill positions through the draft. 
• As for WR Diontae Johnson, Fowler thinks how he performs for the rest of the season will reflect where he falls in free agency. 
• Fowler expects Baltimore to take a “wait and see” approach with Johnson. 
• ESPN’s Dan Graziano asked around and was told the Ravens considered Johnson too good a player to pass up at the price Carolina was asking and he gave them more depth at receiver if they wanted to use more multi-receiver sets. However, Johnson was more of an insurance policy and not someone they were going to change the whole offensive philosophy to accommodate.