Does Jermaine Gresham mean the end of Reggie Kelly's tenure in Cincinnati? One could suspect. The Cincinnati Bengals are hoping that the door is open, according to Geoff Hobson:
The Bengals didn’t say goodbye to tight end Reggie Kelly Thursday night. But it was just a few speeches short of a testimonial.
They made it quite clear that while they want to re-sign him it is going to be more as a mentor for rookie Jermaine Gresham. A few weeks ago Kelly said he had no problem mentoring a rookie that everyone expected the Bengals to take at some point but he also felt like he had plenty of juice left to start.
While he'd be a great mentor for Gresham and Chase Coffman, the team, specifically Bob Bratkowski, would like to keep Kelly around for as long as possible.
“Reggie’s very special. I know that a lot of people didn’t quite see the value in Reggie,” Bratkowski said. I know more than once, (Jets head coach) Rex Ryan has complimented Reggie in that he said he’s never had an answer for him. He was the one guy, when they played us, because of what we did with Reggie in the pass protection and the run game, he’s given that compliment to Reggie. We think highly of Reggie, and other people do as well. I think that door still may be open. If it is, great.”