Deal between Andre Smith and the Bengals reportedly close; Smith is heading to Cincinnati for Sunday afternoon practice?

Last night we updated that the Bengals could be within 24-48 hours of signing a deal with the team's first round draft pick. Andre Smith is close to finalizing a deal with the Cincinnati Bengals, writes Geoff Hobson.

Although a deal isn't done, a league source said that agent Alvin Keels met with the team in another face-to-face meeting Saturday and are close enough to meet again Sunday morning. The hope is with the Bengals practicing at 3 p.m. Sunday that Smith will be on the field to end the holdout at 30 days.

Geoff Hobson writes that while the deal is less than DHB at number seven, it will be more than the deal Jacksonville's Eugene Monroe got. Monroe was the second offensive tackle in the draft, and the Bengals apparently are taking the position that Smith should get paid as highest offensive tackle drafted, not the sixth pick overall. "That's a five-year deal that is somewhere between $28 and 32 million."

Adam Schefter tweets that "Bengals 1st-round pick Andre Smith is on a plane headed to Cincy. If all goes as planned he will sign and could be at today's 3 pm practice."

The Bengals are reportedly hoping to have Smith in town before the 3 PM practice on Sunday.

[UPDATE: Joe Reedy writes that Andre Smith will compete for a spot at right tackle. This came in response to an early August interview in which Lewis said he'd be given every opportunity to start at right tackle. However, several weeks later Lewis said that Smith will play where he fits best. We're still not exactly sure what that means, if that means anything. But we got the feeling at the time that Smith isn't going to, if anything, have every opportunity to start at right tackle -- in other words, he'll have to beat out Anthony Collins (the way it should be anyway).

ORIGINAL POST BY JSL413: Twitter is abuzz with Andre Smith rumors. Hat tip to cinbengal_85 for the initial report of Chad Ochocinco's tweet that Smith signed. Since then, numerous twits have tweeted to ask whether or not Smith has signed. Agent Alvin Keels says no, calling internet reports premature. Does this mean that the Bengals and Smith are close? Or is Ochocinco just trying a new attention-grabbing scheme wherein he breaks news.

PFT reports that a source says "an agreement could be reached in the next 24 to 48 hours." The report also said that the deal will be very complex.]