Browns
Browns QB Joe Flacco was in the headlines recently as he again talked about being a mentor with two rookie quarterbacks in the room. Flacco has explicitly said he doesn’t want to be a mentor. However, he clarified those comments by saying he wants to be a helpful, good teammate, but being a mentor is not what drove him to make a return to the NFL.
“Listen, everybody wants to have good relationships and be a good teammate, or that’s the expectation at least,” Flacco said, via SI.com’s Albert Breer. “I think you want a bunch of players that have that mindset—it’s about the team and it’s about having good relationships, and freaking pushing people. I think that is important to do. And in order to have those relationships and keep the team first, you have to have a bunch of guys that want to play football. That’s what it comes down to. Being a mentor and coming out and just kind of going along for the ride isn’t getting me off my couch.”
“I want to play football. But also, I want to be a really good teammate, I really do. I enjoy being in that locker room, and just being around the guys. I think that’s all a part of it. I’ve talked about how it’s not necessarily my job, but at the same time, I’m also not gonna shy away from doing those things. I’m not worried about teaching guys and having that come back and bite me. Yeah, you got questions and you want answers, Yeah, come ask me, man.”
Ravens
Ravens TE Mark Andrews made a few critical errors in the team’s season-ending loss a year ago, which have remained on his mind all offseason. Andrews admitted the difficulty that has come from the tough game and talked about how he’s using it to drive his comeback.
“It’s tough,” Andrews said, via Clifton Brown of the team’s website. “This is my life. I put a lot of work into this. Everything I do is focused on that. Everything I think about is focused on that. It wasn’t the way that I planned it, but that’s all part of the story.”
“I’ve been using it. I’ve had an incredible offseason. I’m excited to show what I can continue to do, continue to prove myself and step up in big moments. That’s the thing about sports. It doesn’t always fall your way. It’s how you bounce back.”
Baltimore TE Isaiah Likely gave a glowing review of the veteran despite all the backlash this offseason.
“I look up to Mark because he’s a pro’s-pro,” Likely said. “At this point, he’s already moved past it and he’s ready for next season. Y’all going to really smile when you see No. 89 out there.”
Steelers
Steelers CB Cory Trice had a rough game in their regular season finale against the Bengals, where Cincinnati WR Ja’Marr Chase went for 96 yards on ten receptions with a touchdown. Trice has been using that game as motivation all offseason and admitted he has been really hard on himself for what he put on tape that game.
“That’s all I’ve been thinking about,” Trice said, via Nick Farabaugh of Penn Live. “Because that was my last game out. I just don’t want anybody to really just think of me as that last game because I’m way better than that. It stung a little bit. I’m still feeling it right now. That’s really kind of my motivation going into next year. Just make sure I don’t put no tape out there like that again.”
“I don’t think (coaches) was upset. Everybody, they actually was saying I did a good job and stuff like that. For me, I’m used to letting up nothing, so I was upset. I was really hard on myself. I done watched that game already like 10 times.”
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