AFC Notes: Orlando Brown Jr, Larry Ogunjobi, Lamar Jackson, Bengals, Ravens, Steelers

Bengals

Priority No. 1 for Bengals LT Orlando Brown Jr. since arriving in Cincinnati has been getting to know the man he’s going to be spending a lot of time next to; second-year LG Cordell Volson. Brown is a big believer that success on the field starts with relationships off the field. 

“I don’t have any experience with the military other than my grandfather being in the Korean War, but I would think these relationships are somewhat similar to those guys in the trenches,” Brown said via the Athletic’s Jay Morrison. “When you go into battle, and you’re in these hostile environments, sometimes you’re only as strong as the man next to you.”

That’s especially true when it comes to the offensive line, which requires five players to be in sync as a unit to accomplish their goal on each play.  

“I’m helping him as much as he’s helping me,” Brown said. “Communication and body language are so important in football, and they’re not necessarily talked about often. But those two things are so important. When you’re playing next to a good offensive guard that really has good body language and knows how to communicate with his eyes, with his body, with a feel, all those learned tendencies and small details are so important to offensive line success.”

It’s possible to build that unity without players being best friends off the field. But that level of trust becomes easier to attain if you like the people you’re working with. 

“One of the main tenets I believe in in football in order to have any success is to trust the men around you and build their trust in you,” Bengals C Ted Karras said. “Trust isn’t just some big gesture where ‘now I trust you.’ Trust is a culmination of a lot of day-to-day stuff. One of my other tenets is play your best when it counts the most, and you can’t do that without trusting the guy next to you.

“Building that trust started when we showed up, pre-Phase 1 (of OTAs),” Karras continued. “Just guys being here ready to go. Now that we’re on the field, knowing what to do, knowing how to do it, having each other’s backs, it translates off the field. Me and Orlando hung out a ton, and Cordell, too. There’s a lot of wide-encompassing factors that go into trust, and being friends is one of them. You don’t have to be friends to trust each other on the field, but it helps.”

Ravens

Ravens QBs coach Tee Martin said Lamar Jackson is showing a lot of enthusiasm in OC Todd Monken‘s new offense. 

“I just saw the expression on his face when he came off the field,” Martin said, via Jamison Hensley of ESPN. “He was in a good place.”

Jackson said Monkey’s system gives him “the keys to the offense.” 

“Coach [Monken] is basically just giving us the keys to the offense, really,” Jackson said. “I’m loving it.”

Ravens HC John Harbaugh said they’ve been implementing a no-huddle offense more frequently under Monken. 

“We’ve been in that world before, but not to this degree,” Harbaugh said. “To me, the offense starts in that world more than it did before, and I’m excited about that, [and] I know Lamar is excited about that. I think you saw [Tuesday that] the communication is probably better than what you saw last week, so we’ve just got to keep building on that.”

Steelers

Steelers DL Larry Ogunjobi spoke about his decision to re-sign with Pittsburgh, with HC Mike Tomlin believing that the team is yet to see the best from the former third-round pick.

“The energy of the team, going through injury last year and how they took care of me and how they welcomed me with open arms,” Ogunjobi told ESPN’s Brooke Pryor. “It was super important. It was annoying, but I think it was just kind of where I was at. It’s an injury that for a lot of people can be career-ending, and so just being able to do what I was able to do, now I can build off that.”

“I don’t believe that you did,” Tomlin said of Ogunjobi. “That’s the perspective that I have. I think that’s the perspective that he has. I think that makes both of us excited about his return and what that might mean. I just think that there’s benefit in him being here and knowing what to expect and having been a lap around the track. To go through an offseason where he’s not rehabilitating coming off of a surgery has exciting prospects, as well.”