Bengals
The Bengals have largely drafted well over the past few seasons, but it will be imperative that they continue to do so going forward to keep the roster around QB Joe Burrow strong. Director of college scouting Mike Potts says some of their misses have reinforced the need to emphasize character on their draft board.
“We were talking about this the other day, the guys we have taken that maybe haven’t worked out, we had all the correct information to make the right decision,” Potts said via the Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr. “Maybe we are talking about two or three players there. There have been hundreds of players that didn’t end up being Bengals, but we made the right call on steering away from them. You have to resist the temptation to fall for something you like on tape or one person having too strong of a voice in that regard when we know it is not the right fit for our locker room.”
Ravens
Ravens HC John Harbaugh says QB Lamar Jackson will have a major role in the offensive evolution the team will undergo this offseason.
“Lamar’s a driver. He’s got to be involved in the setup of the car even more,” Harbaugh said, via Jamison Hensley of ESPN. “Those are things that are on his mind, and those are things that he’s going to be involved with the staff talking about. I’m excited about that. He wants to do it, and he’s just into it, man.”
“Lamar Jackson is a phenomenal success,” Harbaugh added. “He’s a phenomenal success as a football player. He is a phenomenal success as a person, as a leader, as a family man. In my opinion, there’s nobody better than this league, especially nobody better for the Baltimore Ravens and for this organization, for this city, and just from a historical perspective. I’m excited about the future.”
Steelers
New Steelers OC Arthur Smith told the media he will commit to building a relationship with QB Kenny Pickett, despite it being unclear if he will be the team’s starter going forward.
“There’s a relationship that’s got to be built between me and Kenny. That’s so paramount between the play caller and the quarterback,” Smith told Missi Matthews of Steelers.com. “There’s a certain identity we want to have. Any offense I’ve been a part of it’s going to be physical, we want to win on the line of scrimmage, it’s also about playing to our strengths, creating explosives, we want to have a very smart unit.”
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Unbelievably stupid comment by Potts. Penei Sewell wasn’t picked by the Bengals. Was it because he would be bad in the locker room? Patrick Mahomet? Truth is, in the last 11 years, and out of about 105 draft choices, they’ve drafted only a handful of true stars (Burrow, Chase, Higgins McPherson, & Nixon) with a handful of good players (Bates, Marvin Jones, Williams, Boyd, Zeitler, Hubbard). That’s it. Most of the rest – especially on either the offensive or defensive lines – were pure busts. Add, a true aversion to moving up and giving up draft choices,(despite their lack of success) and their problem is obviously talent evaluation.