Though the Bengals (and the rest of the AFC North) were very quiet on Tuesday's opening of the new league year, that doesn't mean that they were completely inactive. If you've read our takes on this site, especially Josh's disclaimer for overeager Bengals fans this morning, you'd have known that this relative silence on the team's part was to be expected.
According to Bengals.com writer, Geoff Hobson, the Bengals spent the early part of day reaching out to their own free agents and then apparently constructing their plan of attack from there.
As 4 p.m. rang and the NFL ushered in its new year Tuesday, the Bengals apparently talked to some of their free agents but as both sides expected no deals were reached.
While monitoring their own free agents in the hopes of signing most of them back, the Bengals are expected to make contact with dozens of other free agents with the next step scheduling visits.
This makes sense for the team since they've made it known that their own free agents will be their top priority this year. Unfortunately, it seems that the majority of their free agents will be testing the market. Frostee Rucker's agent has already made that public, and the Bengals couldn't seal a deal with Reggie Nelson after speaking with him on Monday.
They have, however, already reached out to former Giants cornerback Aaron Ross and he'll be visiting the club on Thursday. Ross would provide good depth at a position that sorely needs it. We'll see if this pending visit will lead to a contract or not, but it's good to see the club getting on the horn and talking to outside free agents. It will also be interesting to see what the team will do with their wide receiver situation