Bengals officials and agents for running back Corey Dillon have been negotiating for two months, and Dillon's side has rejected the first offer from the Brown family.

        The offer was too low.

        “If it was enough, there would have been a news conference announcing the signing,” said David Levine, Dillon's agent, said.

        Dillon, 26, is the eighth player in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards in each of his first four seasons. He finished with 1,435 yards on 315 attempts, both team records and career highs.

        “It's every guy's dream to have his best season the season before he is eligible for free agency,” Levine said. “For him not to test the free-agent market, it's going to have to be an extraordinary offer.

        “Corey had the best year of his career under circumstances that were not the best. They didn't have a quarterback who could spread the field. Defenses were keyed to stopping him.”

        Dillon, who set a single-game individual rushing record with 278 yards Oct. 22, is expected to be asking for $5 million-$7 million a season with a $10 million signing bonus. Figures of the Bengals' initial offer were not available.

        The Bengals have exclusive negotiating rights through March 1.

        The Bengals have the right to match any offer if, by March 1, they tender him a one-year offer of about $4 million — estimated to be the average of the top 10 salaried NFL running backs. Cincinnati plans to match any offer made to Dillon if it can't sign him before free agency begins.

        “What we'll do with our cap, if we can't sign Corey, we will reserve sufficient cap room to meet what someone else might do,” President Mike Brown said. “We're trying to sign Corey Dillon.

        “I'm not going get into the detail of what we offered him, but we have made an offer, and it is a strong offer.”

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