AFC Notes: Jordan Battle, Shedeur Sanders, Bengals, Browns, Ravens

AFC Notes: Jordan Battle, Shedeur Sanders, Bengals, Browns, Ravens
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Bengals

Bengals S Jordan Battle outlined his relationship and the dynamic with CB DJ Turner II. Battle said the two are great friends, and he thinks their differing personalities is perfect for leading the defense.

“They say opposites attract,” Battle said, via the team’s website. “Even though he might not be that vocal guy, maybe I can help him with that, and he can help me be quiet like that at the right time. We’re real cool. We hang a lot outside the building. He knows a lot about me and I know a lot about him.”

“He always has people over, always wants to hang out. Try to get to know people. He relates to my friends back home from that aspect, being able to have somebody I can speak to outside of them. Someone I could trust like DJ. Great player, greater person.”

Browns

Browns QB Shedeur Sanders is competing for the starting quarterback job as he enters the second year of his career. Cleveland QBs coach Mike Bajakian said Sanders proved he could play “a lot faster” as a rookie than his measurables indicated coming out of college.

“As you look at Shedeur, the off-schedule plays that he made last year, maybe his measurables at the Combine and coming out of pro days and all that other stuff, maybe they’re not quite what elite athletes are considered,” Bajakian said, via Mary Kay Cabot. “But I’ll tell you what, if you just go back to the video from last year, and even his college video, you see an athlete that plays a lot faster than maybe the measurables indicate, and that is the case with him.”

Browns HC Todd Monken said Sanders is looking “more decisive” in their offseason program thus far and must continue to process plays at a high level.

“He’s being more decisive,” Monken said. “It’s easy to say we’re not in pads (but) it just feels like he’s making quicker decisions. The ball’s coming out of his hands, which he’s going to have to do. Not that he doesn’t have playmaking ability, because he does, but his ability to process quicker and get the ball out of his hands and eliminate lost yardage plays is going to be huge for us to be able to stack plays and score, which is ultimately the number one thing here.”

Bajakian said they are challenging both Sanders and Deshaun Watson.

“Shedeur’s done a great job,” Bajakian said. “*They’ve both done a great job with that. I love coach’s approach to install and how we’re challenging them. We’ve thrown a ton at them from a volume standpoint, from an install standpoint; in terms of cadence, procedure, the ability to drive the car and get us in and out of the right plays. They’ve embraced it and they’ve both done a great job of it. So I credit coach’s philosophy of throwing it at them early, and it’s almost like, ‘hey, you’ve got to sink or swim,’...