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On what has been a very busy day for transactions in the NFL, the Bengals have been notably absent from the discussion. While other teams have been running up their phone bills trying to orchestrate trades or garner interest from soon-to-be free agents, the Bengals are quietly sticking to their plan of re-signing their own players. Frustrating? For some, sure. But the NFL isn't won in March, and blockbuster deals often do more to hamper teams than to help them.
And don't expect the Bengals to shake things up anytime soon. According to a tweet from Joe Reedy, the team is expected to have little interest in the big-name players headlining the free agency period.
I asked a couple people with the #bengals about Jennings, among other names. Doesn't sound like they're interested
— Joe Reedy (@joereedy) March 11, 2013
Color us shocked.
The Bengals certainly could use another wide receiver to take some of the heat off A.J. Green, but signing an expensive free agent receiver would be a fruitless use of cap space. The team has a couple of good, young players waiting in the wings and the kind of money require to sign a Jennings-like player would be better used elsewhere (like right tackle or linebacker, for instance). Moreover, with four draft picks in the first 100 of the NFL draft, the Bengals could select a WR somewhere in the first three rounds, which would be far a more cost-effective move and would yield a longer commitment to the team than an aging, oft-injured wide out.
In the end, Reedy's tweet is simply a confirmation of something we've already known for a long time. In the immortal words of Dennis Green, "They are who we thought they were."