The Cincinnati Bengals have announced that they've re-signed offensive tackle Matt O'Donnell. TSN reported the signing on Saturday. According to the report, O'Donnell, who was playing for the Edmonton Eskimos in the Canadian Football League, was let out of his contract to make the move back into the NFL.
According to TSN's Dave Naylor, O'Donnell is expected to sign with the Cincinnati Bengals, the same team he worked out for three years ago coming out of Queen's University and before he signed with the Eskimos. O'Donnell played 42 games for the Eskimos in three years.
Matt O'Donnell, a 6-foot-10 340 pound offensive lineman, signed with the Cincinnati Bengals as a college free agent following the conclusion of the 2011 NFL lockout. Out of Queens University in Ontario, O'Donnell made his mark in college football when he was named to the First-Team All-Canadian team in both 2009 and 2010 with the Queen's Gaels. He also won the Ontario University Athletics conference award for best lineman in 2010.
O'Donnell was originally drafted by the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL in the second round in 2011, but chose to pursue a career in the NBA after receiving a call from the Boston Celtics. That preliminary interest turned into a workout that didn't go very well. He worked out for the Toronto Raptors but ultimately went undrafted in the 2011 NBA Draft. Those basketball plans were body slammed into the dumpster when the Bengals signed him as an undrafted free agent after the NFL lockout was lifted.
After spending the entire 2011 season on Cincinnati's practice squad, O'Donnell was eventually waived by the Bengals on Aug. 31, 2012. After that, he resumed his CFL career in Edmonton.