AFC Notes: Andrew Berry, Amarius Mims, Bengals, Browns, Steelers

Bengals

Bengals RT Amarius Mims dealt with an ankle injury before being a first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Mims said he’s been using his time “rehabbing, recovering, and refreshing” since the season ended. 

“I spent the last three months rehabbing, recovering, and refreshing,” Mims said, via Geoff Hobson of the team’s site. “That’s the three ‘Rs’ right there. That’s what I did this offseason.”

Mims mentioned he was feeling “banged-up” toward the end of the season and is focused on taking care of his body going into Year 2. 

“I played a little banged-up last year, especially toward the end of the season. That’s what comes with it,” Mims said. “Now I’m just focused on being more of a pro. Taking care of your body. Those bumps and bruises at the beginning of the season, you feel them. But they add up as you go. The more you go, the better the competition, the better the game. You’ve just go to be able to take care of your body.”

Mims feels this is his first real offseason after going through the pre-draft process in 2024 following ankle surgery. 

“I was going, going, going. This offseason is different. It’s my first offseason,” Mims said. “I get time to myself. I can clear my mind and think. It’s been really good for me. Just slowing things down.”

Browns

The Browns made a blockbuster trade in the 2025 NFL Draft to move down from No. 2 overall with the Jaguars, acquiring the fifth overall pick, the 36th overall pick, the 126th overall pick, and Jacksonville’s 2026 first-round pick. GM Andrew Berry thinks the deal gave them both short-term and long-term security after landing DT Mason Graham. 

“Both in the short-term and over a multi-year time horizon, [the trade] was a fit for what we wanted to do with the team and what we wanted to do with the roster,” Berry said, via PFT. “And we’re excited to add Mason. We’re excited to add the extra draft resources both this year and next[.]”

Cleveland was initially expected to take Colorado WR/CB Travis Hunter. Although Berry said they had a “strong affinity” for Hunter, they felt it was a priority to add significant resources. 

“I think that we obviously had strong affinity for Travis, no different than we had strong affinity for a number of players at the top,” Berry said. “I think the thing for us [is] there are a lot of good players in every class. And you know, as much as we liked Travis or Abdul [Carter] or, you know, Ashton [Jenty] — like whoever that may be — the opportunity is still to get a premier prospect and add significantly to our resources, which gives us added flexibility to build the team. We felt like it was an opportunity.”

Berry added they were always “open-minded” about trading out of the second pick. 

“I think oftentimes when people think of a pick, it naturally automatically goes to like, OK, well how do you maximize it by selecting?” Berry said. “But it’s a resource and there are so many different avenues that you can use the resource to improve your team. Whether it’s what we did tonight … whether it’s we’re picking Travis Hunter, whether it’s you’re selecting a quarterback, whether it’s you use it to trade for a high-end veteran. And so, we really went into the spring pretty open-minded because part of our DNA is we want to be opportunistic and flexible. We don’t want to necessarily close off our mind to how we can best utilize a resource to improve the team.”

Steelers 

The Steelers picked Oregon DT Derrick Harmon at No. 21 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft despite dealing with a partially torn rotator cuff and labrum in his shoulder. GM Omar Khan said they felt comfortable with Harmon after their medical staff checked him out. 

“We wouldn’t have picked him unless our medical staff and we were comfortable with [Harmon’s health],” Khan said, via SteelersWire. “Yeah, we had him in on our pre-draft [top-30 visit] — had an opportunity to get him in front of our docs, and we were extremely comfortable with [Harmon’s health].”

• NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport says the Steelers were split on whether the value was worth it to draft Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders in round one.