Posted: 11:30 p.m.
Joey Porter met the press in Miami on Wednesday and no mention was made of the Bengals being the other team in the derby that really wasn't a derby.
The Bengals were apparently convinced Porter could come in right away and make the transition from a 3-4 to a 4-3. His position with the Steelers would have been like lining him up as a strong linebacker on first and second downs and then rushing from an end on third down.
And Porter is convinced he could have played in a 4-3.
"In my system over there in Pittsburgh I played all positions. I played the middle backer on dime situation so me playing on two is not a problem," Porter said in the news conference. "Me rushing the quarterback is not a problem, me making plays in the open field has never been a problem. This is the right team with the right opportunities, me being this late in my career, having the right situation and I think the teams I was talking to didn't present a better situation that was trying to win the championship than Miami."
The idea of reaching a long-term deal with Porter may have been attractive to the Bengals because they could have driven down the cap number that is attached to Justin Smith's franchise tag. But the $20 million guarantee blew that out of the water.
Yet the Bengals never got into specific bidding, mainly because Dolphins head coach Cam Cameron and general manager Randy Mueller flew to Bakersfield, Calif., to meet Porter in a scene out of Magnum P.I.
"It wasn't a little plane. It was a 737. Our airport doesn't ever see those. That right there said that they were serious." Porter said. "Mr. H. (Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga) flew in the plane and I'm looking for a whole lot of people to get off the plane and I see two guys get off this big 737 so to use that type of gas for an airplane to come out there, you have to be serious. They weren't going to waste that gas to come visit me for nothing so I knew we were heading in the right direction when I got the visit."
SLANTS AND SCREENS
The CW is that Bengals backup safety Kevin Kaesviharn likely joins Brian Simmons in New Orleans, although there was no deal in place late Wednesday.
Simmons is set to battle veteran Mark Simoneau for the Saints' middle linebacker spot.
Quarterback Patrick Ramsey's signing in Denver on Wednesday night impacts the Bengals in a couple of ways. It means Ramsey won't make a visit to Cincinnati to talk about the No. 2 spot Anthony Wright held last season. And it takes Wright out of the mix with the Broncos, with whom he visited Monday. Wright is still talking to the Bengals, as well as a couple of other teams.
Bengals defensive tackle Shaun Smith, a restricted free agent, is still drawing interest from the Browns after his visit to Cleveland over the weekend.
