The Bengals left only a few pins standing with their seven selections in the NFL draft. They'll have more than one opportunity to knock down the rest.
Entering the draft, they hoped to stockpile linebackers, enhance their depth at cornerback, grab a capable running back, widen the field of nose-tackle candidates and possibly add an offensive lineman. They addressed all of those needs except for the cornerback spot.
By signing free agents - undrafted collegians as well as veteran pros - Cincinnati can plug its remaining personnel gaps before training camp opens in mid-July.
Besides cornerbacks, the Bengals' shopping list includes:
- Linebackers, still. Another outside linebacker and one more to compete for an inside position ought to give Cincinnati a full contingent. Coach Bruce Coslet said the Bengals considered drafting an inside linebacker with their seventh-round choice before settling on Michigan nose tackle William Carr.
- Perhaps another offensive lineman, though it's not a looming priority.
- A fleet wide receiver, because Darnay Scott is the only proven ''speed'' receiver on the roster.
The Bengals might cross out some of those items today. The brief-yet-intense college free-agent season began in earnest immediately after the draft ended Sunday afternoon, as coaches and club officials (along with their counterparts from the league's 29 other teams) began contacting players who weren't among the 240 selected.
Obtaining a cornerback may have to wait until the Bengals resume focusing on NFL free agents later in the week.
''Historically, that is one position you don't fill in the college free-agent market,'' Coslet said, pointing out that the team's switch to a 3-4 defense prompted the strategy which led Cincinnati to draft two linebackers and two nose tackles while ignoring cornerbacks.
The Bengals should be able to afford a veteran corner on the open market. Even after factoring in salaries for the draftees, the Bengals are expected to have at least $1 million available under the cap. The steadily dropping price for free agents will plummet even further after June 1, when financially challenged teams are expected to release handfuls of veterans for salary-cap reasons.
The Bengals' pursuit of big-name linebackers appears to be over. Asked about Wayne Simmons, Coslet said, ''He's probably history.'' Darrin Smith, another unrestricted free agent who visited Cincinnati, signed a one-year deal with Philadelphia on Saturday.
Defensive tackle Tony Siragusa might still be a free-agent target. ''By no means do we have an All-Pro nose tackle. We have a long way to go,'' defensive line coach Tim Krumrie said. But adding fifth-round selection Andre Purvis of North Carolina and Carr to the nose-tackle competition could leave the Bengals a little less hungry for Siragusa, the former Indianapolis Colt whose options seem to be dwindling.
In fact, the Bengals' draft haul made their tasks in free agency significantly easier.
It's not too much of a stretch to declare that the Bengals obtained first-round players with their top four selections: Florida State defensive end-turned-linebacker Reinard Wilson, the first-round pick; University of Washington running back Corey Dillon, second round; Michigan center Rod Payne, third round; and University of Miami safety Tremain Mack, fourth round.
Dillon and Mack were considered to have first-round-level skills by many experts, but the duo's troubled pasts scared off suitors. Though Payne was widely rated the nation's top center, this happened to be a year when nobody desperately needed a player at that spot.
No wonder Coslet felt satisfied as he left the Bengals' draft room at their Spinney Field headquarters.
But, he said, ''There's always going to be doubts. Only time will tell how it really works out.''
DAUGHERTY COLUMN
SULLIVAN COLUMN
ANALYSIS
BENGALS DRAFT PAGE
