With Manny Lawson leaving for the Buffalo Bills (totally unaware that the Bills haven't reached the postseason in 13 years) and Dan Skuta leaving for the San Francisco 49ers, the Cincinnati Bengals have a need for depth at the linebacker position.
One option is one of their own (and you're not going to like it).
According to Geoff Hobson with Bengals.com, "it looked like talks were moving well" with free agent and former linebacker Rey Maualuga, who played four seasons with the Bengals after being selected in the second round of the 2009 NFL draft.
But not as a MIKE (thank god).
The belief is that if Cincinnati brings Maualuga back for another season, it would be at SAM where he opened the first two seasons of his career. However during his two seasons as the team's starting middle linebacker starting in 2011, much has been made of his noticeable flaws, from missed tackles, bad reads and terrible coverage. Additionally Thomas Howard and Vontaze Burfict, WILL linebackers, led the team in tackles (if that means anything to you).
Worst of all is that he tends to think about his failures rather than moving on to the next play or game. Get that mental component under control and maybe his performances improve. At least he'll be at a position where he was favored much more among fans.