UPDATE: Cincinnati Bengals finally sign Cedric Benson

by Josh Kirkendall on Mar 3, 2009 4:05 PM EST in Rumors

UPDATE: One down. The Cincinnati Bengals, it was reported hours ago, had offered Cedric Benson a new contract after Benson publicly showed interest in joining the Houston Texans. Whatever the Bengals offered, it worked. Geoff Hobson writes:

The Bengals filled a major gap Tuesday when they re-signed their starting running back for the upcoming season a day after Cedric Benson visited the Texans, the club announced.

Now that Benson is signed for 2009 -- terms are undisclosed at this point -- the Bengals will have a running back roster of:

Cedric Benson
Kenny Watson
DeDe Dorsey
James Johnson
Chris Perry

Original (now out of date) post. Apparently when Cedric Benson started talking all sorts of happy love about returning to his home-state of Texas, the Bengals were listening. When Benson said that, “the business side here (Houston) might be better than the business side in Cincinnati," the Bengals were listening. When he said that the odds of signing with the Houston Texans were "good", the Bengals were listening.

Joe Reedy writes that the Bengals upped their offer. "We are hearing from our friends in Houston that the Bengals have made a new offer to Cedric Benson" No numbers are known.

Now that the Bengals lost out on Derrick Ward, who signed a very manageable offer that was much lower than some projected, we figure that the Bengals would push hard to bring Benson back. However, we also caution, as fence-sitters like myself generally do, that running back of all positions in the NFL seem to be the easiest to replenish, if the cost seems arguably high. Well, unless the Bengals draft Chris Perry (injury + disappointment) and Kenny Irons (severe injury).

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Hopefully Good

Hopefully its an offer he can’t refuse

by Diesel2405 on Mar 3, 2009 3:10 PM EST reply actions

man, are the bengals that undesirable? benson could be the starter in cincy, and he’s seriously torn about backing up Slaton in HOU.

good grief.

anywho, i wish Mikey would quit wasting time on skill positions and work on signing a O-Lineman…..

3 yards and a pile of dust

by Hudepohl Dey on Mar 3, 2009 3:30 PM EST reply actions

the deal is worth 7mil over two years. Cheap deal.

by Sheffieldbengal on Mar 3, 2009 3:56 PM EST reply actions

Bet the initial offer was considerably lower than the one he took. Pretty screwd play by allowing the Texans to entertain CB. Hopefully, they will now invest in the line with the high picks and pick up a RB in the mid to lower rounds to groom.

by redberkey on Mar 3, 2009 4:04 PM EST reply actions

Finally we signed a RB, but is he going to be as productive or effective the whole year as he was the final three games of the season? This should also help the Bengals with the possibility of signing John Kuhn now that we have a decent RB. With the signing of Cedric the Bengals should have no doubt on what position they should draft in the first few rounds, the O-Line.

by CinBengal08 on Mar 3, 2009 4:21 PM EST reply actions

OK, now we have the RB....

I am glad we have a hoss to run the ball. I wasn’t real keen on the idea of Cedric Benson until one particular screen pass late last year. He snatched that ball and boom! …he was gone. He has a burst that Rudi lacked and he is bigger. I really hope this fills that position at least the next 3 years.

by a_madmule on Mar 3, 2009 4:31 PM EST reply actions

Good. Now, can we please send Chris Perry back to Ki-Jana Carter land or wherever it was we got him? Oh, yeah, the Island of Misfit Big 10 Running Backs with Carter and Tshimanga Biakabatuka.

I was sold on Cedric when he about took Polamalu’s head off finishing a run. You just don’t see that.

by IgnatiusJReilly on Mar 3, 2009 4:34 PM EST reply actions