Bengals

After dealing with injuries during his time in New England and eventually being traded to the Steelers during the middle of the season, S Kyle Dugger is ready for a fresh start and is now fully healthy, despite the nine regular-season games he started for Pittsburgh last season.

“Fresh start and a new opportunity. I’m excited for it,” Dugger said, via the team’s website. “It’s been a rough two years. I’m thankful where I am.”

Ravens

New Ravens HC Jesse Minter was asked about second-year pass rusher Mike Green, who was one of the more controversial prospects in last year’s draft and wound up being selected by Baltimore.

“I have a lot of confidence in Mike Green,” Minter said, via RavensWire.com. “I loved him coming out [of the draft]. He was high on our board [with the Los Angeles Chargers last year]. And so, I was joking with him, [the Chargers] had brought him in, I think for a [Top] 30 visit last year, and so it was meant to be now that we’re together, and so I am very excited. I think now he’ll have a guy in the room with Trey [Hendrickson] that he can really learn from, that he can learn some of the nuances of rushing the passer. Those guys will work well together. Oftentimes, when you have a guy on one side, it creates even more opportunities for the guy on the other side. And so, Mike should be very excited, because I feel like he’s going to have a lot of opportunities to impact the game, and we’re excited about him. Just like anybody, I think your first year to your second year is often a big jump and just understanding the level that it takes, the preparation that it takes, and I am so excited about Mike.”

Steelers

Steelers CB Joey Porter Jr. believes that pundits can be overly critical of his game and are too concerned about his penalties rather than the lack of touchdowns he has given up so far in his career.

”That’s what people really harp on my game about, is the PI’s and penalties,” Porter said. ”But it’s like, you hold no other DB under that microscope or grade them under just — I haven’t gave up a touchdown in three years. Not one. No wide receiver put over 50, 60 yards on my head alone and I travel with the best of them. And they want to talk about penalties. Even to bring up penalties this year. I had five, which equaled out to 50-something yards. You’re saying I’m not top-five because I had 50 yards in penalties? Like that’s crazy.”

• Steelers GM Omar Khan on LT Broderick Jones‘ health status: “He’s starting to do more and more. I’ve talked to him a couple times over the last couple weeks, and he’s in a good place and ready to work hard and do whatever he can to be ready to go.” (Adamski)