Friday, March 02, 2007

there's calm in your eye

NFL free agency has opened today and there's been a fair amount of news surrounding the Bengals. Predictably, Eric Steinbach wasn't re-signed, and he'll probably be signed early on for a huge paycheck by another team. I was really shocked that the Bengals cut Brian Simmons, and frankly I don't understand that decision, so I hope Ahmad Brooks is ready to play middle linebacker this season. Reggie Kelly and Kevin Kaesviharn are two of the more popular free agents and are receiving some interest from other teams. I have a bad feeling that Kelly may end up in Atlanta, but hopefully we can resign him. I don't expect Tory James to be back, and although I've said it for the past couple offseasons, I'm sure this is the year that Kelley Washington goes somewhere else. Hopefully deals can be worked out with other free agents like Kenny Watson and Marcus Wilkins.

There were some big names cut by other teams, including Joey "the Jackass" Porter from the Steelers, Jamal Lewis, Joe Horn, and Keenan McCardell. Also a number of players that were not re-signed, including Ashley Lelie and Adalius Thomas. There seems to be a good number of free agent tight ends out there, so it will be interesting to see if the Bengals go after any big free agents after creating some salary cap room by cutting Simmons.

edit: Why did Steinbach have to sign with the Browns? That's disappointing. The Patriots cutting Corey Dillon isn't that surprising, but Jake Plummer retiring instead of being traded to Tampa Bay is.

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