The AFC North just underwent what is likely to be the quietest week of the 2019 calendar year before training camps begin.
And the AFC North figures to make plenty of noise the rest of the way. The Baltimore Ravens hope they’re contenders after reloading defensively and going with a new-look approach on offense. Pittsburgh is more of the same and Cleveland has more hype than arguably any team in the league. As for the Bengals, the hope is contention too despite a new head coach and injuries already.
Before training camps get going, let’s look at some of the biggest items from the past week in the division.
Baltimore Ravens: Marquise Brown, others to NFI
The Ravens have had an odd offseason when it comes to players being ready, with some even being yanked from camps due to conditioning.
That appears to be continuing early in training camp, where Marquise Brown and Jaylon Ferguson are two of the notables starting on the NFI list.
Brown is the team’s first-round wideout and Ferguson is a third-round defensive stalwart, so the Bengals aren’t the only team having problems with rookies.
Pittsburgh Steelers: Mike Tomlin extension?
When the conversation hasn’t focused on former players such as Antonio Brown, some of the chatter surrounding the Steelers has centered on Tomlin.
Tomlin, after all, doesn’t have a lifetime contract even though it might seem like it considering he’s been around since 2007 (with a 125-66-1 record).
The Athletic’s Ed Bouchette listed 10 reasons the Steelers should get an extension done, including this:
It is what the Steelers do, keep good coaches. They’ve had three over the past 50 seasons. Chuck Noll coached 23 years, Bill Cowher 15 and Tomlin 12. All three had their low points, Noll and Cowher more so than Tomlin, and the “drama” that went with it.
The Bengals have never had huge success against Tomlin and his Steelers have missed the playoffs just once dating back to 2014. Like Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati, while the national chatter might talk about hot seats, the reality is he probably isn’t going anywhere.
Cleveland Browns: Distractions?
For all the hype surrounding the Browns, there have been plenty of distractions.
A prominent one was the contract situation of running back Duke Johnson, who allegedly would have liked a trade. Baker Mayfield ended up commenting on it and getting a lesson from his teammates about not talking about everything publicly.
Veteran wideout Jarvis Landry says the situation won’t be a distraction, per Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot: “It will not be a distraction. Our focus is pretty clear. We want to win a championship and the guys that are here, that’s going to help us do that. We start on Thursday. Let’s get it done.”
But really, it already is or was. Maybe it doesn’t impact the team more than it already has, but outside critics who viewed Mayfield-Odell Beckham Jr. and others as a combustible situation that could backfire already have some ammunition.
