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The Cincinnati Bengals have yet to re-sign any of the team’s free agents but so far, only one has gotten away. That is defensive end Chris Smith who is signing a three-year deal with the Cleveland Browns. (Shocking, I know.)
News has been slim to none of the rest of the Bengals’ free agents (see table below) but we do have some news on free agent punter Kevin Huber.
Per Mike Garafolo, the Bears are interested in Huber and have been in touch with his agent.
Punters deserve updates too. With Pat O’Donnell slated to hit free agency, the Bears have spoken to Bengals free agent Kevin Huber, source says. Punters!
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 14, 2018
Huber has spent nine years with the Bengals, missing only two games in that span. He has punted 697 punts for 31,499 yards in that time and has been a reliable special teamer for the Bengals. Huber was a fifth round pick by the Bengals (142nd overall) in the 2009 NFL Draft, coming out of Cincinnati. He’s a life-long Cincinnati resident as he attended high school at Archbishop McNicholas in Cincinnati.
The highest paid punters are getting about $3.5 million, so it’s not like the position is a bank breaker, but the Bengals might be willing to find a punter in the draft (or in undrafted free agency) and let Huber walk this offseason.
It would be a hard pill to swallow to see Huber go after a great career in Cincinnati, but you always need to keep in mind that the NFL is a business.
If Huber is in fact moving on, maybe the Bengals will go after Michael Dickson, a punter who was actually invited to the NFL Combine and is getting major buzz.
Bengals free agents 2018
| Player | Position | Age | 2017 Team | 2018 Team | 2018 Contract |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Position | Age | 2017 Team | 2018 Team | 2018 Contract |
| Kevin Minter | ILB | 27 | Bengals | ||
| Andre Smith | G | 30 | Bengals | Cardinals | 2 years, $8 million with an additional $2.2 million in incentives |
| Kevin Huber | P | 32 | Bengals | Bengals | 3-years, $7.95 million with incentives up to $8.75 million |
| Tyler Eifert | TE | 27 | Bengals | Bengals | 1-year, up to $8 million |
| Cedric Peerman | RB | 31 | Bengals | ||
| Eric Winston | RT | 34 | Bengals | ||
| Pat Sims | DT | 32 | Bengals | ||
| Jeremy Hill | RB | 25 | Bengals | Patriots | 1-year, $1.5 million with only $150,000 guaranteed |
| Russell Bodine | C | 25 | Bengals | Bills | 2-years, $10 million |
| Chris Smith | DE | 26 | Bengals | Browns | 3 years, $12,000,000 |
| AJ McCarron | QB | 27 | Bengals | Bills | 2-years, $10 million with an additional $6.5 million in incentives |
| Adam Jones | CB | 34 | Bengals |