Marvin Lewis on Michael Johnson's importance to Bengals

The Bengals were quick to re-sign Michael Johnson once the Buccaneers cut him this offseason.

After visiting the the Vikings following his initial release, the Bengals went all out to bring Johnson back to the city that he called home for the first five years of his NFL career. Marvin Lewis made it clear at the NFL Owners Meetings that Johnson was the Bengals' No.1 target once he was back on the market.

"Oh yeah. That became a No. 1 priority from the owner all the way down," Lewis said. "Somebody to help us again to develop the depth we had the on the D-line and bring back somebody we already knew."

Lewis and the rest of Bengals management loves familiarity, and adding a player of Johnson's quality who already knew Cincinnati made it even more important of a move.

"The thing about adding veteran players to your team is you have to make sure they’re a fit and they can do the things you want them to do on your team all the time.

"Or you have to adjust to do what they do best. That’s the important part of adding the veteran guy because he’s down the road already and sometimes that transition is is difficult. If it takes six, seven weeks, you've lost five or six games by then.

In the end, Johnson and the Bengals are a match made in Heaven, which is exactly what Johnson needed after a disastrous year in Tampa.

"Mike wanted to be comfortable again. It was important for him to be comfortable. In his mind he wasn’t for a season and so just to come back to what he knows. He’s such a fundamentally sound person that way. That’s what he was looking for."