Jamison Hensley, ESPN Staff Writer 11y

Wake-up call: Keenan Lewis' price tag

As you would expect, there were a lot of Ray Lewis posts Wednesday after the Ravens linebacker announced he would retire at the end of the season. There will still be a few Lewis posts Thursday, but there will be some playoff posts sprinkled in there, too. We'll start off this morning talking about Lewis. Not that Lewis. I'm talking Keenan Lewis. Here's the wake-up call ...

RAVENS: Four starters were limited in Wednesday's practice: fullback Vonta Leach (knee, ankle), defensive tackle Haloti Ngata (knee), safety Bernard Pollard (chest) and guard Marshal Yanda (shoulder, knee). There was no one who missed practice. "I feel pretty good," Yanda told The Baltimore Sun. "It can be significant. It depends on the injury and how the body is feeling. It can go both ways. Rest at this point of the season is nice. To have guys that are nicked-up, banged-up and some dealing with severe injuries, it definitely helps." The Ravens play the Colts in Sunday's wild-card game.

BENGALS: Three starters were limited in Wednesday's practice: running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis (hamstring), safety Chris Crocker (thigh), and cornerback Terence Newman (groin). “I’m doing the best thing I can to get back out there on the field and try to help the guys on Saturday,” Green-Ellis told The Cincinnati Enquirer. “I’m confident in the rehab process, things I’m going through. I’m taking it day-by-day, doing the things that they have me lined up doing.”

STEELERS: Cornerback Keenan Lewis wants to return to the Steelers, but it will come at a cost. Last year, he was a restricted free agent who made $1.26 million. Now, he is an unrestricted free agent who is coming off his first season as a starter in which he led the league in passes defensed. The price to keep Lewis has gone up. "I didn't want a contract in 2012," Lewis told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "I was just a nickel back. I probably would have told them to hold up on the contract anyway because I wanted to really establish myself as a starting cornerback. I didn't want nickel-back money, I wanted starter money."

BROWNS: Former NFL executive Mike Lombardi has close ties with three of the Browns' coaching candidates: Oregon's Chip Kelly, Penn State's Bill O'Brien and Syracuse's Doug Marrone, league sources told The Plain Dealer. The paper reported that the likelihood of Lombardi joining the Browns as a personnel director increases if one of those candidates is hired. In an interview on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland on Wednesday, Lombardi said he hasn't been contacted yet by the Browns, but he would be willing to listen to the team.

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