Posted: 12:40 p.m.
With the NFL Draft now less than three weeks away, here is a reset of the Bengals' activities.
They began their draft meetings Monday and with five picks in the first 106, they are staring at their most high picks since they had five of the first 96 in 2004.
Those came courtesy of the Corey Dillon trade to New England and the Takeo Spikes compensation draft pick. They've got another comp pick at the end of the third round (No. 98 for Justin Smith), but no trade loomed despite the weekend's Internet buzz.
There were no indications Monday that Raiders running back Michael Bush had checked in for a physical and that Bengals wide receiver Chad Ocho Cinco (or even Chad Ochocinco) was headed to Oakland in a trade.
By the time the buzz had died down, The Status of the Ocho remained the same. Yahoo.com reported that Bengals president Mike Brown may or may not trade him and he was still a Bengal as of Monday. Yahoo.com also reported that the Bengals have been informed Ocho Cinco has lost his competitive spirit playing for them. He hinted the same thing publicly last year, but it didn't result in a trade.
With the draft so close, it could impact what the Bengals do in free agency. Former Cowboys defensive tackle Tank Johnson is still in the mix even though he left Thursday without a deal and is still talking to other teams.
"Tank was impressed with what he saw there and how he could be used," agent Jerrold Colton said Monday morning. "They're on our radar and we hope to keep talking."
Head coach Marvin Lewis has said the next moves, if any, have to fit into a salary cap that has been made tighter by 2009 accounting rules in anticipation of 2010 being uncapped.
As for Johnson's former Dallas teammate, safety Roy Williams, there doesn't look to be anything percolating at the moment. Although the Bengals were impressed with Williams and his workout, they look to be trying to shore up other positions where they don't feel they're as deep as they are at safety. Plus, that cap number may be harder to fit than most of the available free agents.
With free agent John Thornton unsigned, defensive tackle most likely fits into the lacking depth category. So does offensive line, where right tackle Stacy Andrews has left via free agency, left tackle Levi Jones is reportedly on the block, and there are no indications center Eric Ghiaciuc is going to return.
But the Bengals may also be waiting to see what happens on the offensive line in the draft, which features one of the deepest center crops in years and where they could take a tackle with the sixth pick.
Also the Bengals don't look to be re-engaging with Packers restricted free agent John Kuhn. Agent Kevin Gold told a Green Bay newspaper last week as offseason workouts got underway that Kuhn was comfortable staying with The Pack and didn't anticipate a quick offer sheet by the Bengals or other teams.Â
