Browns

• According to Albert Breer, there are three phases to the Browns’ three-hour Zoom calls for head coaching candidates.
• There’s a cognitive test, a personality test, and six questions relating to the role of the head coach, the candidate himself, and some questions that are specific to the franchise.

Ravens

Ravens WR DeAndre Hopkins will turn 34 this year, and while he loves Baltimore, he is curious what type of offense the team will run next season and how he will fit into the picture.

“The reality of it, having a new offensive coordinator, being an older guy, I know football and I know how the business side works,” Hopkins told Kay Adams. “I would love to come back, but not every offensive coordinator is wanting a veteran receiver on their team. Some guys have different dynamics of how they go about coaching. It’s nothing personal.”

“Obviously, Lamar and I had a great connection,” Hopkins said. “I think when he came to me I might have been Top 10 in productive receivers in the NFL when the ball came my way. I love Baltimore, and me being a competitor, I would have loved to be used more, even though we had Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman and Isaiah Likely, I’m always gonna have that mindset that I want to be in the game. That will never change but it doesn’t upset me that I wasn’t, it doesn’t make me a bad teammate, I’m still cheering the guys on that are in the game, but I felt that I could have been used more. I love Baltimore, I think the city is great, the people and fans are amazing, organization is amazing, why wouldn’t I want to come back? I would love to play with Lamar again. I don’t know the last time I played with a quarterback two years in a row. It sucks, but it’s part of the game.”

• Matt Zenitz reports that the Ravens are hiring Notre Dame’s Mike Mickens as defensive pass game coordinator and DB coach.

Steelers

Steelers owner Art Rooney II said that the team still hasn’t decided whether or not they’ll bring back QB Aaron Rodgers next season.

“We don’t know what Aaron’s plans are right now, and that did not weigh heavily in the decision,” Rooney said, via PFT. “We’ll see where Aaron is, and we’ve left the door open, but obviously we all have to sit down and see if that makes sense. So that’ll happen sometime in the next month or so. But the decision was made based on Mike being the coach we want, and it really had very little to do with whether Aaron is going to be back or not.”

Rooney added that new HC Mike McCarthy believes QB Will Howard has a ton of upside and is excited to work with him.

“He likes Will Howard, thinks Will has tremendous upside and is looking forward to working with him,” Rooney said regarding McCarthy. “Obviously feels like Mason [Rudolph] can be a contributor. We’ll have to sit down and discuss where Aaron is, if he decides to come back, and whether that all makes sense. I think Mike was very comfortable with the quarterback room and the possibilities with the quarterback room. In particular, the fact we have a young quarterback on the roster in whom he sees some upside.”

• Rooney on the hire of McCarthy, who will call the team’s plays on offense: “He is someone who has a longer track record than many of the other candidates, a winning track record. He’s been a winner everywhere he’s been. Probably just as important for our purposes, the quarterbacks that he’s worked with have all been very successful. So he has a proven track record of developing top-flight quarterbacks. Those are the things that maybe stick out the most.” (Pryor)
• McCarthy on Howard: “I’m really excited about Will Howard. … I’m anxious to work with him. It would be really great to have Aaron back, but Will and Mason, I’m excited to get started with them.” (Pryor)
• McCarthy continued: “As we build a staff, we want to build off of what we have here. I don’t believe in the throw the baby out with the bathwater method.” (Pryor)
• Matt Zenitz reports that DL coach Karl Dunbar will not be retained on McCarthy’s staff, despite the team remaining in a 3-4 defense.

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