As we slowly crawl our way closer and closer to the 2015 NFL Draft, the league’s pre-draft rosters continue to take shape as teams continue to do their due diligence on potential draftees by attending Pro Day and holding workouts and visits for them.
And that’s basically where we stood yesterday around the AFC North, though with a bit of added controversy to spice things up. I suppose we should dig into the controversy first before the more mundane minutiae of divisional news roundup.
Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti has spoken publically a few times recently, which is not in keeping much with his persona at all. But the fact that the team is still trying to drag itself out from under the Ray Rice boulder has made it imperative that he put his face out there.
Yet it was apparently something that he said in private that is drawing attention, as there are reports that Bisciotti recently spoke about former Raven Haloti Ngata during a conference call with fans that could potentially get the team in trouble.
The Ravens, of course, traded Ngata just before free agency after failing to work out a contract extension, getting reimbursed with two mid-round draft picks. Ngata could hit free agency again in 2016, and Bisciotti suggested that he could be a Raven again by then.
This drew cries of tampering, though even the Lions, to whom the Ravens traded Ngata, dismissed the comments as a non-issue. Ultimately, this will probably wash out with the latest news cycle, but we’ll see.
Elsewhere in the division, there has been a report from Chris Mortenson that the Cleveland Browns are approaching a breaking point with second-year quarterback Johnny Manziel, who is expected to exit rehab any day now. Once he is out, the team my reassess his place on the team before deciding whether or not to target yet another quarterback in the first round of the draft.
One other player that they could be targeting in the first round is a cornerback that they worked out at his Pro Day yesterday, Marcus Peters. The Browns just drafted a cornerback in the first round last year as well.
The Pittsburgh Steelers were also at Peters’ Pro Day yesterday, and secondary coach Carnell Lake reportedly put him through drills. He could potentially be a first-round target for the Steelers if he’s not already off the board for character issues.
Also in Steelers news, the team released their offseason schedule yesterday, while continuing to add to its offseason roster. The team brought in outside linebacker Shayon Green, formerly of Miami.
Green was an undrafted free agent last year who failed to catch on with a team, though he did have a workout for the Dolphins. He overcame two ACL tears in college, and he’ll have quite a battle on his hands trying to make the Steelers’ roster this year, as they already have a pair of former undrafted free agent pass rushers looking to make their mark.
