AFC Notes: Najee Harris, Nate Wiggins, Bengals, Ravens, Steelers

Bengals

The Bengals took a calculated gamble in an effort to find a long-term solution at the tight end position, selecting former Michigan and Iowa TE Erick All in the fourth round despite significant medical red flags. All had a back injury in 2022 and tore his ACL last year. 

“We grade everything A-F medical grade at the top line,” Bengals director of college scouting Mike Potts said via the Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr. “Scouts also have a medical grade from the trainers and those guys at the colleges they visit in the fall … You put a grade on the guy, you have a timeline, in this case, a current injury he is rehabbing and coming back from, you put that timeline on when our doctors project him to be ready and go from there in terms of grading him. End of the day, you have to put the value on it. Grade the tape, you think his tape is a little bit better than a guy you can get in the fourth round. We are fortunate to get him there because of those other factors.”

A key factor seems to be the evaluation of Bengals area scout Mike Sarkisian, who banged the table for the pick. 

“They talk about him the same way they do all the other Iowa tight ends (Sam LaPorta, George Kittle, etc.),” Sarkisian said. “He was a captain at Michigan, he would have been a captain there if he were there longer. He was really the only offense on that Iowa team this year. He’s a dynamic playmaker, physical run blocker, we are getting a pretty darned polished player once we are ready to roll with him.”

• Bengals senior personnel executive Trey Brown turned down a request to interview for the Patriots’ de facto GM spot, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.

Ravens

First-round CB Nate Wiggins fell in the draft and put the Ravens in a position to grab him at the end of day one. Baltimore GM Eric DeCosta and DC Zach Orr are enamored with Wiggins and feel he fits exactly what they are trying to do.

“For us, it was always, ‘If Nate [is] there, we [are] going to pick,'” DeCosta said, via ESPN’s Jamison Hensley. “In our opinion, [he’s] a guy that can be a true shutdown-type corner.”

“On tape, I didn’t see anything about him being undersized as anything that we critiqued,” Orr added. “He flew up, set the edge in the run game, played physical with receivers at the line of scrimmage, came up, tackled, getting the ball off people. So he played like a Raven. We have no concerns about that at all.”

Steelers

• In the opinion of the Athletic’s Mark Kaboly, an extension for Steelers RB Najee Harris is unlikely after Pittsburgh declined his fifth-year option. 
• Kaboly also believes Steelers QB Russell Wilson will be the starter for the entire season unless he’s injured. 
• In Kaboly’s opinion, the Steelers are highly unlikely to re-sign veteran CB Cameron Sutton, who was released by the Lions following domestic violence chargers earlier this year. Sutton started his career in Pittsburgh. 
• According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, the Steelers thought OT Troy Fautanu could go to the Jets at No. 10 overall and didn’t expect him to fall to them at No. 20. 
• Fowler also reports Pittsburgh identified second-round C Zach Frazier towards the end of the first round as a possibility to select at No. 51.