Bengals tight end Mike Gesicki and wife Halle like to travel in the offseason, so Sunday night's hop into Cincinnati from their native New Jersey to sign his three-year deal isn't exactly out of the ordinary. Their recent trip to Switzerland is a bit extraordinary because Gesicki donned skis for pretty much the first time, but he was on much steadier ground Monday.

In his eighth NFL season, he secured that second contract from a team that not only wants him, but a team he wanted in return after his big 65-catch season in head coach Zac Taylor’s offense.

"I knew once I got my foot in the door it would be a perfect fit," Gesicki said.

He not only enjoyed the offense, but also a locker room where he won the respect of everyone from second-year wide receivers Charlie Jones and Andrei Iosivas to franchise quarterback Joe Burrow.

"It's a fun team. A lot of fun guys. You've got to give credit to Zac," Gesicki said. "He lets everybody be themselves. As long as you come in here with the right mindset, the respect, of the organization and you work hard, be yourself and go make plays on Sundays, then you've got no problems here. Great organization to be a part of and all the guys are incredible."

Not exactly the easiest deal to figure because the wide receiverish Gesicki doesn't really fit into a tight end box you can compare. According to overthecap.com, his $8.5 million per year average is in the top half of the league. It's that versatility the Bengals wanted to cash, and that Gesicki embraced.

"Just being able to play all the spots on the offense," said Gesicki, when asked where his game grew as a Bengal. "There were a couple of times we were down a couple of receivers and it was, 'Hey Mike, play Z.' And I was like, 'I've got (the playbook), let's roll.' I think the versatility to play a bunch of different spots (spawned) unique matchups that you can get and I think we saw that a couple of different times last year."

COMMANDER CODY

The Bengals announced their two-year deal with Cody Ford Monday, and he's looking to be more than their most versatile offensive lineman. He's hoping to secure one of the Opening Day guard jobs that look to be up for grabs.

"They've given me all the opportunities to see what I can do," said Ford as he begins his third season in Cincinnati, "and I think they'll give me a true shot to be a starter."

Last week they released their starting right guard of the past three seasons, Alex Cappa, and late last season Ford started two games in place of left guard Cordell Volson.

Ford became the first Bengals offensive player since at least 1980 to start games at four different positions in the same season (per Elias). The only positions he didn't play on the 2024 offensive line were right guard and center, but he did start nine games at right guard for the Bills, the team that drafted him in the second round in 2019. The last seven came in 2021.

Ford, who came in from Dallas, planned to lunch with new offensive line coach Scott Peters after he signed his deal. Ford's college buddy at Oklahoma, Bengals left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., has been working out at Paycor Stadium this offseason and gave him the scouting report.

"I've already heard great things from Orlando," said Ford, whose goal of returning to the Bengals didn't change with the change in position coach. "I told my agent after the season, 'I don't know what you're doing, but we've got to go back to Cincinnati.'

"The organization, the coaches, the city. The training staff is cool. Everything about the Bengals is attractive to me."