Besides a mystery injury to Jonah Williams and looming extension talks for A.J. Green, things have been pretty quiet for the Cincinnati Bengals.
The same can’t be said for the rest of the AFC North.
So it goes when the division boasts names like Baker Mayfield, Odell Beckham Jr. and Ben Roethlisberger, to name a few.
Dead part of the offseason or not, the AFC North has some interesting storylines to look at.
Baltimore Ravens: The Michael Pierce saga
A week ago, the talk was all about Lamar Jackson’s development, which will understandably be the biggest story of all for the Ravens in 2019.
But the Pierce thing is tough to ignore. The budding star defensive lineman showed up at mandatory camp well over his billed 340-pound listing and the team sent him off, considering it a safety issue.
Granted, Pierce has been nothing but adamant it is a failure from a team leader and he’ll do better. But it’s still an interesting story to watch as things progress over the summer — Baltimore lost a ton of defensive talent this offseason so it can’t afford to have this issue with Pierce, who needs to be thinking about a big-money extension, anyway.
Pittsburgh Steelers: Big Ben talks up lack of drama
Roethlisberger seems happy there is no more “drama” surrounding the Steelers after departures of names like Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown.
“It’s been a little crazy the last few years, maybe more so than usual that we’re used to dealing with,” Roethlisberger said, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. “To kind of get back to quote unquote normalcy is kind of nice.”
Of course, just last week Big Ben was taking questions and talking about Brown anyway.
But if the Steelers leaders say things are calmer, it could mean a more focused team heading into training camp, which could be a problem for the AFC North. The counterpoint, of course, is losing a pair of explosive weapons and asking others to step in and fill the void.
Cleveland Browns: Odell Beckham Jr.’s brief social media hiatus
A week ago, the biggest news surrounding the Browns was some drama for Mayfield, who decided to comment on a teammate’s contract situation and got a lesson from teammates about the whole ordeal.
This week, Beckham has decided to step into the spotlight.
Beckham announced a social media hiatus on June 20, only to turn around two days later and rip off a string of comments in response to a story about his time with the Giants. We’ll just drop those here:
And hey, players are free to do whatever they want on social media — and as an added bonus, it’s the offseason.
But it should be interesting to see how the consistent, sporadic headlines around the Browns — paired with the huge hype — actually impacts training camp and the regular season.
And indeed, the Browns are making the Steelers look tame and ordinary right now.
