AFC Notes: Myles Garrett, Omar Khan, Bengals, Browns, Steelers

Bengals S Tycen Anderson wants to increase his tackles after being a standout on special teams last season, especially now that he has his ACL injury in the rearview mirror.

“I want to have more tackles than I had last year,” Anderson said, via the team website. “I take it day-by-day, putting my best foot forward, hoping that leads to playing time on the back end. I just want to find a niche and a way to win games. That’s all I want to do. I want to win. When I was coming off my ACL, just seeing guys like Trey, Orlando Brown, Joseph Ossai, to see Trey come off the season he had, it was clear to me we have the best strength staff and the best trainers in the league. If they played as well as they did, I’m staying right here.”

Browns

Browns DE Myles Garrett made headlines when requesting a trade but wound up signing a record four-year, $160 million contract extension. Owner Jimmy Haslam isn’t holding anything against Garrett and is confident the edge rusher will stay in Cleveland “for a long time to come.” 

“These kind of situations are emotional,” Haslam, via Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Journal. “People say things and I think you have to realize it’s not just the player. There’s an agent, there’s an agency who are working that process behind the scenes and they’re really good at it. They’re really effective at it. And we’re just glad it worked out. And I had a long conversation with Myles the day after he signed and it was very positive. And listen, Myles was frustrated last year, but hell, so are we and we’re all frustrated, OK. And I’m glad he cares enough to be frustrated. We look forward to him being with us for a long time to come.”

Browns GM Andrew Berry reiterated that they weren’t upset at Garrett publicly announcing his trade request.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t describe it as a cold war,” Berry said. “I know that’s how it was in thought of in terms of how it’s portrayed publicly and everything like that, but we didn’t really have any animosity towards Myles or his camp. Look, I’ve known Myles since he was 21 years old and that relationship will span beyond his football career with the Browns. There are just certain types of situations that you get through in professional sports where you have to work through them day by day and week by week. But we’re really happy to have him for the long term and he’s a big part of our organization, a big part of what we’re going to do next year and a big part of what we’re going to do in the future.”

Haslam explains they never seriously considered trading Garrett and hopes to have him retire as a member of the Browns. 

“We had a lot of conversations about it and there was never serious thought to trade Myles,” Haslam said. “I mean, what we know we have in Myles is a Hall of Famer. Myles just turned (29) if I remember, I think in December. He’s probably got five or six really good years in him and is a dominant player who coaches have to game plan for and we value that. We want him to stay here and retire with us, et cetera, et cetera. So it was never really a serious thought.“

Steelers

Steelers GM Omar Khan feels that the team is in a position where they don’t need to focus on drafting players at any one position this year, which is something he tries to adhere to every season.

“Our goal is always to put ourselves in a position where we don’t have to take a guy at a specific position,” Khan said in a video. “And I feel like we’ve added some key pieces to what we’re trying to accomplish. And this draft is, there’s some really good players in this draft that can help us at various positions. And we’ve been working hard at trying to make sure we set our board right, and there’s more work to come. This is the next three or four weeks are going to be really important, but we’re right in the middle of it and feel good about it.”