The NFL released the list of free agents Monday afternoon. No franchise tags, no transition tags for the Bengals. Cincinnati can start negotiating contracts with free agents starting at 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday. Starting at 6 p.m. on Friday ET, teams may extend offer sheets to another team's restricted free agent or, for the general sake of the topic, sign players to contracts (their own, restricted, unrestricted, etc..)
A quick understanding about restricted free agents. Players with three years of experience without a signed contracted are considered a restricted free agent. This means he's free to negotiate with other teams, however if he signs an offer sheet, the original team is allowed the right to refuse, provided that they match the offer. If the original team decides to let that player go, the original team is compensated based on the qualifying offer.
The Bengals sent qualifying offers to four players. They are, with compensation, listed below.
| Player | Position | Compensation |
| Kyle Cook | C | 2nd Round |
| Jordan Palmer | QB | 6th Round |
| Nate Livings | G | ROFR* |
| Dennis Roland | T | ROFR* |
| ROFR is a generic application in this instance in which the original team wouldn't be compensated. | ||
Marvin White was the Bengals only qualified restricted free agent that didn't receive a qualifying offer so he'll become an unrestricted free agent.
The following is the official list of unrestricted free agents that played for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2010.
| Player | Position |
| Cedric Benson | RB |
| Kirk Chambers | T |
| Jonathan Fanene | DE |
| Brandon Johnson | LB |
| Dhani Jones | LB |
| Johnathan Joseph | DB |
| Reggie Kelly | TE |
| Brian Leonard | RB |
| Evan Mathis | G |
| Chinedum Ndukwe | DB |
| Terrell Owens | WR |
| Keiwan Ratliff | DB |
| Roy Williams | DB |
| Gibril Wilson | DB |