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On the eve of NFL free agency, the Bengals cleared some salary cap space Friday by terminating the contract of defensive lineman Duane Clemons.
Free agency began at 12:01 a.m. today, and the Bengals' first priority is finding depth at quarterback.
Job 1B is bulking up an under-achieving defense.
Though Bengals president Mike Brown was one of two nay votes on the players' union proposal on a labor contract extension, the measure passed, and the salary cap increased $7.5 million to $102 million. Brown said the Bengals will spend up to the salary cap.
Bengals backup quarterback Jon Kitna, who chose not to re-sign with the team before testing the market, is expected to meet early next week with Jets coach Eric Mangini. New York already has talked with former Redskins quarterback Patrick Ramsey, who will visit Detroit.
The Bengals are believed to have had one conversation with representatives for former Steelers quarterback Tommy Maddox, who was released earlier this month. Maddox, who will be 35 in September, was Pittsburgh's starter in 2002 and 2003 and threw for 38 touchdowns and 6,200 yards. Like Kitna, Maddox wants an opportunity to start again but knows the rest of his career will be spent as a backup.
The Bengals have under contract two healthy quarterbacks, Craig Krenzel and Doug Johnson, and are looking for a third to compete for potential starting time if Carson Palmer is unable to return as hoped from his serious left knee injury.
The Bengals are an estimated $16 million under the new cap and gained another $1.16 million in letting Clemons go. He had 14½ sacks in three seasons but served a suspension in 2005 for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy.
The Bengals also hope to extend the contracts of their offensive linemen; all five starters' contracts will expire after the 2006 season.
Bucs' Jackson gives Bengals Super Bowl taste
After negotiating Rudi Johnson’s deal, Peter Schaffer remembers the news conference last year in which Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis talked about the growing, positive pressure on him to win a Super Bowl.
It's one of the reasons Schaffer is sending another client - Tampa Bay safety Dexter Jackson - to visit the Bengals on Sunday to talk about a deal. Jackson, a former Super Bowl MVP, joins Dolphins backup quarterback Sage Rosenfels as the Bengals’ first free-agent visits confirmed by agents Saturday morning.
The club doesn’t confirm visits until after the players have left Paul Brown Stadium.
The 6-0, 210-pound Jackson, who turns 29 when training camp opens, is a popular locker room figure during a Tampa career headlined by his two interceptions of Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon in Tampa Bay’s 48-21 win in Super Bowl XXXVII three years ago.
The Buccaneers are talking to him about re-signing, and he’s scheduled to visit Minnesota on Monday, where Jackson’s secondary coach with the Bucs, Mike Tomlin, is the new Vikings defensive coordinator. But Schaffer calls the Bengals situation “intriguing and attractive” coming off their AFC North title run.
“Once you taste that fine champagne, your taste buds get used to it and Dexter wants at least another ring,” Schaffer said. “We both have a tremendous respect of the coaching staff that Marvin has there.”
Jackson is Lewis’s kind of two-way safety. He clearly has coverage skills since he’s played so much “Tampa 2” in the zone defense that drops both safeties and he’s got 14 career interceptions. But he also has a reputation as a good tackler who can flash in the running game, and the Bengals need someone to team with free safety Madieu Williams.
With the injured Williams and the other safety starter, Kim Herring, playing only a combined four games last year, the Bengals were burned by a series of long passes down the regular-season stretch and in the Wild Card Game against Pittsburgh. Jackson has had just one interception in the past two seasons, but the Bucs finished first in defense in ’05 and fifth in ’04 after he returned from a one-year stint in Arizona.
Schaffer finished negotiating a five-year deal for Johnson a year ago this week, and he also represents Bengals teammates Tab Perry and Jeremi Johnson.
“Obviously, we’ve seen all the positive changes the Bengals have made and how far they’ve come to become contenders,” Schaffer said. “You don’t have to tell us. You’re talking to one of their big believers.”
More bread, but same butter for Bengals
The Bengals have a new salary cap figure of $102 million, and look for them to start flexing their muscles as free agency opened Saturday.
They have said they’ll come out swinging on a veteran backup quarterback and have lined up at least one visit before head coach Marvin Lewis leaves in the next few days for the NFL Competition Committee meetings. The agent for Dolphins backup quarterback Sage Rosenfels said his client is expected in Cincinnati Sunday following a trip to Houston and before one to New York to see the Jets. One published report has Bengals backup Jon Kitna headed to visit Detroit this weekend.
Rosenfels, who turned 28 on Monday, has thrown just 109 NFL passes but has a highly-regarded arm that turned in a 71-yard touchdown pass last season.
If phone calls are any indication, it looks like the Bengals are going younger rather than older at a spot that very well could yield their seventh Opening Day quarterback in the last nine seasons depending on Pro Bowler Carson Palmer's rehab from reconstructive knee surgery.
"He knows the situation there and is interested. We'll see who comes out of the box," said Rick Smith, Rosenfelts' agent.
There may be a new cap number, but the Bengals will no doubt continue their old ways of not wanting to drop a big deal early in free agency. Yet they also have a need at safety, a position that typically doesn’t break the bank and there are some good ones out there.
Cincinnati could also use some defensive line help, but look for it to go younger there as well. When it comes to defensive tackles, the Bengals also may wait for a few weeks until the opening price falls.
Former Bills defensive tackle Sam Adams, a Lewis disciple, has been available for a week and sits in a market where Chris Hovan and La’Roi Glover have taken home beefy signing bonuses in the $4 million range that the Bengals would probably rather give to two of their offensive tackles in extensions
