AFC Notes: Joe Mixon, Roquan Smith, Bengals, Ravens, Steelers

Bengals

Bengals Director of Player Personnel Duke Tobin refused to address RB Joe Mixon‘s role with the team next year but acknowledged that his 2023 season was impressive.

“I can tell you his role this past year was good,” Tobin said, via PFT. “He had a really good season for us. I was proud of him — over a thousand yards and double-digit touchdowns and it was a big factor for us. In terms of predicting anybody’s role going forward, I’m not going to do that up here on the podium. Those are roster-building strategies and those are things that we’re talking through as this whole thing unfolds with every player on our roster. It’s not specific to just one. Really proud of Joe in the season he had. He did a lot of things to help us get into a point where we had a chance. We didn’t get over the hump, but he put us in a position to have a chance.”

Ravens

During the 2022 trade deadline, the Ravens sent a second-round pick, a fifth-round pick, and LB A.J. Klein to Chicago for LB Roquan Smith. A few months after the trade, Baltimore handed Smith a five-year, $100 million extension, locking him into the future of the franchise.

“Roquan Smith has made a seat change on our defense. Roquan kind of just tied it all together. He made it all kind of fit and make sense,” HC John Harbaugh said of Smith, via Kevin Oestreicher of the Ravens Wire. “We were doing the same things on defense that we were doing [before] Roquan got here, and we were doing them pretty well. We were getting better as the [2022] season went along, but everybody saw it. When he got here, it changed. He made everybody better around him, and it’s only gotten better since. So yes, Roquan, [I] love him. I love him. [He’s] one of the best.”

Steelers

Steelers S Minkah Fitzpatrick missed a career-high seven games in 2023 due to hamstring and knee injuries. This was the first time Fitzpatrick missed significant time in his career, and it provided him with a different challenge than playing every week.

“It’s part of the game. It was my first year and hopefully my last year where I’ve sat a significant amount of time,” Fitzpatrick said, via Teresa Varley of the team’s official website. “I just tried to embrace it. I tried to still lean from that position, that stance. Even though I wasn’t playing, there were still ways I was trying to get better, whether it be on the field or off the field. I just had to embrace it. It’s part of the game, part of our job.”

“Football is a crazy game. Last year, we had some crazy circumstances. It’s a telltale sign of who we are, the type of team Coach T has built, the type of culture Coach T has built. We continue to fight no matter what the circumstances. It’s a culture that is hard-nosed. You have a job to do, get it done, no matter how you have to do it.”

• Mark Kaboly thinks there is a “good chance” the Steelers bring in Dolphins’ recently released ILB Jerome Baker.