This time last year the Cincinnati Bengals were gearing up for training camp, the team was not close with to an agreement with their 2010 first round draft pick, tight end Jermaine Gresham, who was at one point one of four unsigned first round draft picks on Aug. 2, 2010. It was later on that day reports began surfacing of Cincinnati's five-year agreement with Gresham, who had already missed eight practices and five days worth of training camp. Yet he was the quickest first round pick by the Cincinnati Bengals to sign since Leon Hall in 2007, who missed only one practice during the first day of training camp.
| Year | Player | Pick | Length of Hold Out |
| 2010 | Jermaine Gresham | 21st | Held out 5 days. |
| 2009 | Andre Smith | 6th | Held out 30 days |
| 2008 | Keith Rivers | 9th | Held out 10 days |
| 2007 | Leon Hall | 18th | Missed a practice on the first day of Training Camp |
| 2006 | Johnathan Joseph | 24th | Signed first day of camp. |
| 2005 | David Pollack | 17th | Held out 19 days |
| 2004 | Chris Perry | 26th | Held out 11 days |
| 2003 | Carson Palmer | 1st | Signed two days before the NFL Draft. |
| 2002 | Levi Jones | 10th | Signed first day of camp |
| 2001 | Justin Smith | 4th | Signed one day before first regular season game. |
With Georgia wide receiver A.J. Green being the league's fourth-overall draft pick during the 2011 NFL Draft, you can only imagine the trouble the Cincinnati Bengals will have signing him. The team's last fourth-round draft pick, Justin Smith, waited until the regular season and the next closest overall pick to Green, Andre Smith, sat out 30 days.
And customary to the Bengals historical tradition of first round draft picks holding out, along with Cincinnati's propensity to struggle during negotiations that tends to keep players out of the much-needed training camp...
A.J. Green and the Cincinnati Bengals have reportedly agreed to terms.
Alright. Moving on.