Despite the Cleveland Browns being the hometown team for the now-retired former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce when he was growing up, he was actually a fan of their AFC North rival.

In a recent interview with Nevada Sports Net, the future Pro Football Hall of Famer revealed that he grew up a Pittsburgh Steelers rather than his hometown Browns.

“Jerome Bettis, he was my favorite player growing up,” Kelce said. “That’s who I wanted to be, I wanted to be a running back and just loved watching him play. I was born in Cleveland, and I even became a makeshift Steelers fan when the Browns left to become the Ravens.

“It’s like sacrilegious in Cleveland, everybody was like, ‘How are you a Steelers fan now?’ I’m like, ‘We don’t have a team anymore, this is my favorite player.'”
It may be quite a surprise from the Cleveland Heights native, and if he already wasn’t liked by Browns’ fans it certainly won’t endear him now.

JULY 14 – UNDERRATED? – Despite not allowing a sack last season, as the Pittsburgh Steelers proudly reminded everyone about on social media Saturday, the starting left guard Isaac Seumalo was not ranked among the best interior offensive linemen in the league.

As has become a new offseason tradition for ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler, he recently released his top-10 interior offensive linemen rankings. The catch is that they are based on his polling of anonymous league executives.

The 30-year-old veteran offensive guard wasn’t even listed as an honorable mention based on those conversations that Fowler had. Rather, Seumalo is listed as one of the many interior linemen who received “votes.”

JULY 13 GONE Former player turned analyst James Jones is issuing a dark prediction for a Steelers rival.

“I think the Deshaun Watson of the Houston Texans is gone,” Jones said from his FS1 perch. “That Deshaun Watson is not coming back.”

The injuries have certainly slowed him down, creating the impression – at least for now – that Cleveland, in giving up three first-round picks in a 2022 swap with Houston, has lost that trade.

And the money is gigantic … meaning another maybe “loss.”

Said Jones: “I think that he can be a solid quarterback, but I don’t think we’re going to get the Deshaun Watson that we’ve seen in Houston.”

We are about to find out this season just exactly which version of Watson the Browns will get. But note this about Watson: He is still just 28 years old.

JULY 13 – RANKINGS – As we’ve previously written, CBS Sports recently released its head coach ranking. But there was a catch: coaches are ranked according to their success in “big games,” which obviously means the postseason.

While the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike Tomlin is now the most-tenured coach in the league, he was put in the “endangered champions” tier, where he is ranked No. 11. So, if Tomlin is No. 11, what about his AFC North counterparts?

Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski is the only coach in the AFC North that is not technically ranked by CBS Sports. The fourth-year coach was one of 18 coaches who CBS deemed to lack “big game” experience, so they were not rated.

However, then comes Cincinnati Bengals coach Zac Taylor, who finds himself in the “lightning in the bottle” tier, which is those who were a “legitimate” title contender but only in a “small stretch.” Taylor ranked just above Tomlin at No. 10.

This leaves Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh as the only other AFC North coach remaining. As you may have guessed, he is ranked inside the top five, sitting at No. 4. The 61-year-old is in the second highest tier, “forever on the doorstep,” which are those who perennially make the playoffs and even advance when they reach them.

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JULY 13 – WORKOUTS— As we approach the final days until teams around the league kick off their first practices of training camp, players are taking advantage of their free time to work out with one another. As we’ve previously written, this has meant that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Justin Fields has extra time to work with his new receiver, George Pickens.

But Fields’ workouts haven’t just been limited to his teammate. In addition to Pickens, Fields had the chance to work with current Green Bay Packers starting quarterback Jordan Love, Tennessee Titans receiver Calvin Ridley, and Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts.

JULY 12 SCOUT RIPS LAMAR Lamar Jackson last year won a second MVP. But there’s a “but.” …

“For an MVP quarterback, Lamar Jackson still has some limitations as a passer,” a scout said in comments made as part of the Athlon Sports 2024 Preview magazine,. “He was extremely disappointing in the postseason, which is a recurring theme for him. He’s still one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks to ever play in the NFL, but this is a passing league.

“You wish he was more accurate and more sound fundamentally.”

Jackson set career-highs in passing yards (3,678) and completion percentage (67.2 percent) last season … with 24 passing touchdowns and 821 rushing yards.

Baltimore was the No. 1 team in the NFL …

Until the playoffs.

The Ravens remain a powerhouse, and it’s weird that their best player might be their vulnerability. In Pittsburgh? The Steelers hope it is so.

JULY 12 BROWNS ALMOST? The Pittsburgh Steelers? They have a vault full of Super Bowl rings.

The archrivals down the highway? Not so much.

From 1985-1989, the Marty Schottenheimer-coached Cleveland Browns were on the doorstep of their first-ever Super Bowl appearance … three times.

Remember? But then … three trips to the AFC title game and three losses to the Denver Broncos – with weird fumbles and John Elway central to it all – slammed their Super Bowl window in their face.

Recently, Yardbarker released an article listing the best teams to never win a Super Bowl, and that Browns team checks in on the list at No. 5.

What a Steelers fan cannot deny? Those Browns were … almost good.

JULY 12 – NO TOP-FIVE – While it has become quite common in the offseason for top-five rankings of almost any position group in the NFL, and even while some of those top-five quarterbacks lists may include Cincinnati Bengals star Joe Burrow, he still doesn’t like them.

In a recent interview with Complex, the former No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft gave a sensible answer to why he doesn’t like top-five rankings.

“I don’t like lists like that because I feel like it takes away from certain people’s accomplishments, and there’s not just a top five of all time,” Burrow said. “There’s not just a top five in the game right now and it can change week to week. …

“I just think that those lists aren’t really serving anybody. There’ve been so many great quarterbacks that have paved the way for other great quarterbacks to come after them. So I think those lists kind of take away from that.”

It’s certainly a sensible reason why he may not pay attention to them. There’s a lot that can impact these numerous rankings, nothing more than obviously biased. This certainly makes these lists of the top-five players today or all-time subjective rather than fact.

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JULY 12 – FIELDS TO PICKENS—With training camp under two weeks away, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Justin Fields is still hard at work preparing despite the NFL’s dead period regarding teams’ ability to hold workouts or any practices at the moment.

However, this doesn’t mean players are taking this time away from the field. As shown in a video shared on Twitter Thursday, the former first-round pick was working on the field along with his new teammate and receiver, George Pickens.

The brief video of Fields throwing a few passes to Pickens standing doesn’t offer much to judge from. However, it could comfort fans that the pairing is putting in work together while they are away from the team.

JULY 11 – UNFAIR – As Pittsburgh Steelers fans know, quarterbacks are put on a pedestal. That extra spotlight opens them up for more praise and scrutiny.

However, for some, that extra scrutiny isn’t justified. According to FS1’s LeSean McCoy, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is one of those players who is receiving unfair criticism.

“Lamar Jackson, he lost this year to Patrick Mahomes. Who else is beating Patrick Mahomes? Joe Burrow in the playoffs one time,” McCoy said during a recent edition of FS1’s Speak. … “All I’m saying is for the way we grade Lamar Jackson he’s doing the best he can. He could be better in the playoffs. … But a guy like Josh Allen, who I love — I think Josh is better than Lamar—we don’t grade Josh the same way we grade Lamar Jackson.”

This comes after Fox’s Mark Schlereth openly criticized Jackson on his podcast, “The Stinkin’ Truth,” blaming the former Heisman Trophy winner for the Ravens’ lack of development at receiver and playoff success.

With a 2-4 record in the postseason, Jackson certainly has room to be better. But can he be fairly blamed for the Ravens’ lack of a star receiver?