Apparently NASCAR season is beginning, which gave us a good excuse to give you Daisy Dukes.
In the latest AFC North news, the Browns have a new quarterbacks coach, the Ravens look to draft character, the Bengals eye the combine, and the Steelers get some additional cap relief.
Here’s today’s buzz. Enjoy.
Cleveland Browns
In the latest quarterback news overreaction in Cleveland, the Browns hired quarterbacks coach that recently worked with Marcus Mariota.
My Take: This is actually a brilliant move by the Browns. He has worked with all of the top quarterbacks including Manziel last year and the current crop of draftable QBs this year. The Browns now have inside information on the upcoming QB class, and perhaps now know something about Manziel that they previously did not. It can only help their decision process. Whether they make the right decision or not is another story.
Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens supposedly are being proactive by analyzing potential character flaws in the upcoming draft class.
My take: With the current run of arrests beginning last off-season, they have to show they are doing something. After just four arrests, most of the minor variety in John Harbaugh’s first six season, the Ravens have experienced a surge beginning 10 months ago. Whether or not it is just lip service, or if this analysis will actually prevent an incident is another thing. No pre-draft probing would have changed their mind about squeaky clean Ray Rice, although in the season leading up to the incident, he had been much more chippy on the field.
Cincinnati Bengals
With Goodell’s new money making baby named The Combine on the horizon, we have to at least reference a draft related article in the Buzz, and the Bengals might have an active off-season.
My Take: The Bengals will most likely have the most turnover in the North (in terms of quantity, and not necessarily sexy positions). Their eyes will be on the combine, mainly for linebackers and linemen, who tend to make big gains and drops depending on their 40 time and agility drills.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Speaking of turnover, the Steelers can’t do much until they create some cap space. They do have room to maneuver, and they may have just been given additional good news by the league with an estimated $140M-$143M 2015 cap.
My Take: The Steelers won’t have much issue extending or restructuring contracts to create space. The question is managing how many cans they kick down the road, and making sure those cans are of productive players in those out-years, otherwise the tactics will catch up to them eventually. For now, they should be fine for at least a few years.
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