After the Bengals announced his two-year extension that he negotiated himself, left tackle and captain Orlando Brown Jr. had some up-close perspective Thursday on the first hours of free agency.

Brown is the most impacted by former NFL sack champion Trey Hendrickson's move to the Ravens for a reported $112 million over the next four years now that their training camp bouts are going to be official twice a season.

Plus, he played for a year with new Bengals safety Bryan Cook in Kansas City and prepared for new pass rusher Boye Mafe when the Bengals played Seattle in 2023.

Brown had to laugh when asked if it's the tackle or the rusher who has the edge from familiarity.

"That's hard to say, but I will tell you I'm excited to kick some ass," Brown said. "So I don't really care who I'm lining up against, but I don't know who the edge goes to, but I'm excited for the matchup.

"It will be a lot of fun. We've had a lot of battles over the years in some really big games when I was in Kansas City. It will be a lot of fun."

No question there's huge respect between Brown and Hendrickson. There's also more tape on them mixing it up than Ali and Frazier.

When they played each other twice in 2022, once in the Bengals' 27-24 win at Paycor Stadium and once in the Chiefs' 23-20 win in the AFC championship game in Kansas City, Hendrickson didn't have a sack. He did have three hits on Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes in Cincinnati, but didn't get to him in the championship game.

"It's just kind of our approach to the game of football. It's who he is," Brown said. "I think about the first time I played him when I was in Kansas City in the AFC championship. To be honest, we fought there, too. That's just the way our approach is. And I'm sure the film will reflect that when we suit up."

The next time they face each other, they've also got some security. While Hendrickson turned out to be national news for half a day in the crosshairs of the Maxx Crosby crisis, Brown quietly did his own deal last month and is now in the fold through 2028.

"I think it's great. I'm happy for him," Brown said. "He earned that contract. It's a great situation for him. Now we get to see him twice a year."

That 2022 season was Cook's rookie year with the Chiefs, and Brown says, "He's going to bring a ton of great energy. He's a fierce competitor. He loves the game. He's got a lot of personality. You've just got to get it out of him a little bit. It might take a little time, but I remember when he first got to Kansas City, he was immediately in the mix in terms of just being a guy in the locker room that vets respected. He worked his tail off. He's about his business."

Looking back on the Bengals' 17-13 win over Seattle at Paycor in 2023, Brown remembered being surprised that Mafe played only 30 snaps. He didn't get him much (Mafe's sack that day came unblocked from the right side), but he saw enough.

"I will tell you, studying the film that year, really special, really special," Brown said. "Just in terms of his burst, he has a great inside move. He does a great job with his hands transitioning in his rushes. I haven't necessarily watched a ton of film on him last year, but what I did see, that potential is still there and even more now."

Sack Plan

Mafe's sack against the Bengals came in his break-out year, his second after Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider used the 40^th pick on him in the second round of the 2022 draft. It was his third straight game with a sack on the way to setting the Seattle record with seven and his career-high of nine sacks for the season. It was his fewest snaps of the season, probably because the Bengals ran 53 plays.

That year, Mafe played a career-high 72% of the snaps. After Schneider and new head coach Mike Macdonald added new pieces on the line last year, such as DeMarcus Lawrence, he ended up playing 50% in a deep rotation for the Super Bowl champs, and rarely on third down.

Mafe knows that all changes with $20 million per year and can't wait to live the three-down vision Carroll had for him.

"I believe that's what they brought me in here to do, to bring that back into light. Be that pass rusher, or be that person to help in the pass rush, helping the defense on all downs," Mafe said. "And that's what I want to do when I come here. Make sure to bring that championship mentality and bring that level to the game."

Playing in two different schemes has opened up the 6-3, 261-pound Mafe's adaptability. Macdonald dropped him in coverage 44 times last season while Mafe still maintained solid run-stopping stats setting the edge and good pass-rush numbers with 44 pressures and 40 hurries, per Pro Football Focus.

"I feel like the biggest thing I understand is the ability to be versatile. Putting me in different positions," Mafe said. "Rushing from a three, rushing from a nine, playing six. All the different ways they were using me in Seattle. Dropping, coverage, especially with my great coach. He knows a lot about defense, knows a lot about football.

"It taught me a lot. it showed me how to look at things, how to make the game simplified for myself, using that to my advantage now, and understanding that, okay, I know this different facet of the game, I know this different avenue, and being able to use that."

As the schemes and personnel changed, so did the numbers. He went from nine sacks to six, then to two last year. He knows that means questions.

"A lot of things a lot of people question about me is the production, and that's a big question. I understand that," Mafe said. "But the thing is, the coaches saw the film. They saw what I could do on the field. They want to tap in and make sure that the pressure rate and all that turns into sacks. And so with them, with me buying in and getting that chance to really dig into that and really get into the nitty gritty of what I need to do to improve my game, I feel like that untapped potential can really show itself."

Family Affair

A big reason Cincinnati native Cook took the deal with the Bengals is the ability to be close to family. He and wife Jayla Thornton-Cook have two children, two and four months, and the travel has been tough getting back east with children so young. Thornton-Cook is from Newark, N.J., and everyone is now suddenly so much closer.

The day her son returned home to become a Bengal, Cook's mother, who raised him in College Hill, was in Kansas City taking care of the kids.

Thornton-Cook has made her own share of headlines as a sharp-shooting guard at Howard and Syracuse while she earned three degrees in her goal to become a TV analyst.

After being named Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Player of the Year in her senior year at Howard, she came off the bench at the 'Cuse while winning the vaunted Newhouse School's Faculty Award as a graduate student in the sports communications track of the television, radio and film program that has launched the careers of such luminaries as Bengals radio broadcasters Dan Hoard and Dave Lapham.

During that crazy year in Central New York, Thornton-Cook broadcast the men's games as part of her courses while she was playing and earning her master's.

The couple met at Howard before Cook transferred to the University of Cincinnati. Here's how she analyzes her husband as a player:

"He's scrappy. Hard working. With Bryan, the big thing is he's very disciplined, and he does that very well at his position. He knows what's going on around him."

Slants and Screens

There's the fame and fortune, but life isn't exactly easy if you are Joe Burrow’s left tackle. According to PFF, only seven tackles had more than Brown's 733 pass blocks last year.

But Brown loves it, invoking the names of Bengals' pass-blocking royalty at tackle.

"I feel as though this is probably the most uncomfortable and comfortable situation for me, in a way," Brown said. "What I'm asked to do game to game is unique in terms of the drop-back and one-on-one pass protection. It is the most vulnerable state for any offensive lineman in football, let alone a left tackle.

"And you add in blocking for a half billion dollar quarterback and playing for this organization with great players like Andrew Whitworth and Anthony Munoz and Willie Anderson, it comes with a lot of pressure. But for me, I love being a Bengal. I love playing, playing here in this city. I feel like my best football is ahead of me, which is one of the reasons we were able to get two years done." …

They're getting a thinking man's player in Mafe. Just ask him which NFL rushers he watches on tape and might emulate.

"Pass rush is an art form, and when it comes to pass rush, you've got to really be versatile. You've got to know that not every situation is just cookie-cutter, and every guy pass rushes in their own way, their own form," Mafe said. "But you can take a little bit from everybody, and I think the thing is, if you don't adapt, you don't see that there are different ways to pass rush, then you'll stay stagnant. " …

Despite his smooth negotiations with Bengals assistant general manager Steven Radecivic, Brown isn't looking to be an agent in his next life.

"Outside of doing this, I really haven't put too much thought into post-football," said Brown, who turns 30 May 2. "Maybe call me delusional, but I look forward to doing this until I'm 40. I haven't put too much thought into it. I can't say never, but no, not necessarily." …