Bengals
Bengals RB Chase Brown broke out in 2024 when given the opportunity, leading to a likely feature back role this year. Cincinnati OC Dan Pitcher expressed his belief that Brown is one of the best backs in the league, and discussed managing Brown’s workload.
“I believe Chase Brown is a top-10 back in the league,” Pitcher said, via Charlie Goldsmith of The Associated Press. “Certainly, you don’t want to burn the guy out. You also want to make sure your most explosive players are on the field and ready to touch the ball as many times as possible.”
Cincinnati RB coach Justin Hill discussed their plan to focus the offense around Brown’s skillset.
“At the end of the conversation, it wasn’t about what we think looks good on the board,” Hill said. “(It was) what is Chase good at? How can we showcase his tools in the run game and in the pass game? Where we have in the run game right now is pretty true to who we think Chase is and what he can be.”
Browns
Browns first-round DT Mason Graham said that he dropped 10 pounds of body fat this offseason while adding three pounds of muscle.
“I’m getting closer and closer to where I want to be,” he said, via Browns Zone. “I just want to build more strength. I’ve leaned out, but just building more strength is now the biggest goal for me. Just trying to get better. I don’t want to drop any more fat.”
Graham’s ability to collapse the pocket from the middle allows the team’s edge rushers to clean up on the outside.
“A lot of times it’s the push of the pocket that forces a quarterback to get out or the edge rush forces the quarterback to step up,” Browns HC Kevin Stefanski said. “I thought he was by and large pretty good and plenty of stuff to clean up.”
Browns DC Jim Schwartz is trying to help Graham transition from a read-and-react scheme that he played in Michigan to an attacking scheme.
“He played a read scheme where he was hunkering at the line of scrimmage, so he didn’t get a chance to make a lot of sacks or those tackles for losses, even though he’s really productive in what he did,” Schwartz said. “There’s been some setbacks along the way. But the thing with Mase is he’s taken two steps forward for every one step back he’s taken. So he’s gaining ground and you’re starting to see him make more plays.”
Graham discussed the transition and admitted that it’s easy to revert back to old ways, while preaching muscle memory.
“A lot of times in the read defense, you stop your feet on contact, brace for the double teams, when you’re taught here to just keep running your feet non-stop,” he said. “It’s really just a muscle memory of what I’ve been doing for the past few years. So it’s just kind of try not to revert back to my old ways on the defense.”
Steelers
Steelers third-round RB Kaleb Johnson finishes with eight carries for just 20 yards in Pittsburgh’s 31-25 preseason win over the Jaguars. When asked about Johnson, HC Mike Tomlin responded he wants the rookie to “trust himself” and play instinctively.
“I just want to see [Kaleb Johnson] trust himself more,” Tomlin said, via the team’s YouTube. “I want to see him play more instinctively, trust his talents. And that’s reasonable to expect between the first experience and the second experience.”
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