The team's visit with defensive tackle Tank Johnson went well, writes the Enquirer's Joe Reedy.
Regarding the visit, Jerrold Colton, who is Johnson’s agent, said that the visit went well and that he was impressed with the team and the coaching staff.
The idea of adding Johnson to the team's rotation of Domata Peko and Pat Sims, adding Jason Shirley if his project status is ever upgraded to give-him-a-shot-at-raising-hell, is more than interesting. Last year, the Bengals were very uncertain at defensive tackle and their depth ended with their second starting tackle. They had Sedrick Ellis and Glenn Dorsey at the top of the board before selecting blogging-from-the-tub Keith Rivers. If the Bengals sign Johnson, he'd likely be the third man in a three-man rotation with a five-man team of defensive tackles. Well, that is if they keep Orien Harris around.
This would certainly eliminate B.J. Raji from consideration for this year's draft. However, how many of you honestly believed that the Bengals would draft Raji with the sixth pick, spending that much money on a defensive line that's close to being overpaid, thanks to our defensive ends.
Mike Zimmer has it right.
“I called a lot of players in Dallas and talked to former players, front office people and former D-line coaches about what type of guy he is,” Zimmer said. “I also encouraged him to call former players about me. Sometimes I’m not the easiest guy to get along with and they need to understand what I am about.
“We’ve got a good nucleus of guys who know how to do things. That’s been one of the positive things so far and we don’t want a guy coming in here disrupting the chemistry.”