Ravens
Ravens RT Roger Rosengarten said he tried his best to convince LT Ronnie Stanley to re-sign this off-season.
“I took a small vacation with my family, and I was texting Ronnie and calling him every day,” Rosengarten said, via the team’s website. “I was like, ‘Hey man, left side is looking really good.’ I thought we had a really good dynamic duo of me and him and bouncing off each other from left to right. I’m glad he’s back for sure.”
Steelers
Steelers WR Calvin Austin enters the season behind DK Metcalf and Robert Woods on the depth chart, but is drawing praise from Pittsburgh’s coaching staff. WRs coach Zach Azzanni said Austin is being overlooked and is creating “separation all over the field.”
“Everyone overlooks No. 19,” Azzanni said, via Mark Kaboly. “That guy is a legit NFL receiver, and he is this big. He gets separation all over the field, will bite your face off in the run game, nothing affects him, he’s a great leader. He can do a lot of things that a No. 2 can do. That ‘2’ spot is all Calvin’s right now. He and DK are such different players that there will be some plays that he is the No. 1 guy because that is his route, and vice versa because they are so different in stature.”
Austin said Azzanni’s praise means a lot to him and wants to keep showing how hard he’s working.
“You want to say that you don’t hear it, and you are just working, but at this point, it does mean something to me,” Austin said. “I work hard, and that tells me that I have been able to show them how hard I have worked, and the expectations are higher for me. With more expectations, more work has to be put in.”
Austin said he always has “something to prove” each season and is putting pressure on himself to improve.
“Each year I have had something to prove, the time is disappearing,” Austin said. “I don’t treat it differently this year. I put this pressure on myself – a good kind of pressure – to make sure you are not getting complacent. Everybody in the NFL has talent, but you have to be prepared that when your opportunity arises to succeed that you are ready to take it. That’s when you gain the confidence of your teammates and coaches, and that’s when you gain more opportunities.”
Browns
Browns ST coordinator Bubba Ventrone commented on some of the unit’s returning players, as well as newcomers such as WR/KR DeAndre Carter.
“I would say we have some carryover from last season. We developed a good amount of young players that contributed for us,” he said, via Scott Petrak of BrownsZone.com. “Winston (Reid), Bookie (Nathaniel Watson) guys like that, even guys like Chris Edmonds that are coming back that have done a good job in the spring. And I would just say the buy-in. I feel like with our whole team, not just the kicking game, I feel the players are bought in on making it harder and just working harder.”
“Extremely hard worker, undrafted kid that has a lot of talent and experience,” Ventrone said of Carter, whom he worked with as a rookie with the Patriots. “He’s done a really good job. He’s been a combo returner since he’s been in the league, had a lot of production. He’s got gas in the tank,” Ventrone said. “If you watch the film from last year, I think that you can see he’s got the same type of run style, the same type of mentality that he had when he had production early in his career. I think ultimately you’re gonna have a lot more returned kicks…I feel like we have a much better grasp on how we want to attack that play.”
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