Thursday, March 04, 1999Bengals: Ball is in Ball's court
Team will look at others for defensive line
BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati EnquirerThe Bengals' flirtation with nose tackle Jerry Ball has cooled enough so the club plans to start to talking to other free-agent defensive linemen.
The sides haven't talked since the Bengals offered a two-year deal with incentives.
“We get the message. He would rather not do it,” said Bengals General Manager Mike Brown. “We'll keep our line open to him, but we'll put out feelers to other people.”
The Bengals are contacting other cornerbacks — Darrien Gordon and Ronnie Bradford — as they wait for Ashley Ambrose to make a move. Ambrose flew to Chicago to meet with his agent Wednesday.
Kansas City isn't offering a deal in Ambrose's $4.5 million per year range, but something between $3.3-3.5 million might be enough. That's about what the Bengals have been offering.
When cornerback Ken Irvin re-signed with the Bills for 10.8 million for the next four years — including a $3.6 million signing bonus for a $2.7 million average per year — he took less to stay home. The Bengals offered Irvin in the neighborhood about $200,000 more per year, but he apparently wasn't willing to make the jump for $3 million per year.
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