The Cleveland Browns aren’t the only team excited to kick off padded practices in the AFC North. Here’s what is going on in Baltimore, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh as those Browns foes begin to take the field.
Bengals
One of the Bengals big-ticket offseason additions is likely to miss most of the 2020 season. Cornerback Trae Waynes has a torn pectoral muscle that required surgery.
The free agent signed for $42 million over just three years to leave the Minnesota Vikings and join the Bengals. Waynes was expected to start for the Bengals, who are thin on experience at cornerback behind Mackensie Alexander and William Jackson.
Big blow for the #Bengals: Big-ticket free agent CB Trae Waynes underwent surgery for a torn pec and will miss a sizable portion of the 2020 season, sources tell me and @TomPelissero. He does have a chance to return before it’s over, though.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 17, 2020
Ravens
Remember two offseasons ago when the Browns were seriously courting free agent WR Dez Bryant? Now the veteran wideout is trying to take what might be left of his talents to Baltimore. Per Tom Pelissero of NFL.com, Bryant is going to work out for the Ravens this week.
Bryant hasn’t played since his final season in Dallas in 2017. He hasn’t topped 1,000 receiving yards in a season since 2014 and had a catch rate of just 50 percent in his final three, injury-damaged seasons.
Bryant’s audition with the John Dorsey-led Browns in the summer of 2018 did not lead to a deal
Steelers
Wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster would like a new contract with the team as he enters the final season of his rookie contract. And because the Steelers do not do any contractual business during the season, it’s close to now-or-never time for Smith-Schuster to get locked up.
In a media session on Monday, the fourth-year wideout said he wasn’t going to talk about any contract stuff. He’s coming off a down season where he caught just 42 passes in 12 games, though Pittsburgh had QB issues more than WR issues in 2019.
Keep an eye on what happens here, even if neither Smith-Schuster nor the team want to talk about it. If they don’t get a deal done this summer, keeping Smith-Schuster might become financially impossible for Pittsburgh after the season.