AFC Notes: Justin Fields, Russell Wilson, Ravens, Steelers

Ravens

Ravens veteran DL Brent Urban has dealt with major injuries throughout his football career and even signed seven one-year contracts in a row over the past seven seasons.

“Just being in the league is a privilege,” Urban said, via the team website. “Every single day, you’ve just got to relish it because you see so many guys in and out, and just even looking at my class now, nobody’s still around. So just finding your own role, just appreciating it. As I get older, I’ve started to be able to take a seat back and really just appreciate how thankful I am to be here. When you’re young, your nose is on the grindstone, you’re just hustling every day – you’re stressed out and all that stuff – and now I feel like I can kind of be at a luxury to sit back and just really appreciate things each and every day – and that’s kind of helped me continue to play well in this later stretch of my career.”

Ravens HC Jim Harbaugh said he plans to use Urban as an example of a player who has prospered when forced to prove himself and never gave up when facing adversity.

“I’m going to start using [Urban] as an example for those guys because it’s a perfect point,” Harbaugh noted. “Those first couple of years were tough, and here he is now. He’s got a testimony as a result of all the tests he’s been through.”

Justin Fields

With the early calf injury to Steelers QB Russell Wilson, QB Justin Fields has seen an extended amount of reps in a new offense. Famous QB trainer Oliver Bozeman highlighted his routine with Fields to improve his footwork specifically to slow the game down. 

“This offseason, we wanted to kind of move back to what was comfortable for him when he was in college, when he excelled a lot on the field,” Bozeman said, via ESPN’s Brooke Pryor. “It seems like every time with the left foot forward, it was always a slight hesitation or a thought to what he was doing just because he wasn’t so comfortable with what he was doing because he was so used to having his right foot forward.”

“I’m a footwork guy. Before we even started throwing, we did footwork. His throws for the first 30 minutes were probably within 5 to 8 yards, pushing about 10-yard range. We weren’t so much focusing on the throw, but focusing on the footwork and tying the feet and the eyes together. That was a huge focus this offseason, just how the eyes would dictate what the feet [do], just to get him through his progressions a little bit faster.”

“With him having his right foot forward, it eliminated that half a second that he was thinking about what he was doing with having his left foot forward.”

Steelers

• Steelers QB Russell Wilson is on track to play against the Bills “if he doesn’t have a setback” per HC Mike Tomlin. (Brooke Pryor)