Wednesday, March 07, 2001
Bengals finally get serious
The Cincinnati Bengals withdrew from the Elvis Grbac bidding on the grounds he was too expensive and their needs were too extensive.
But before they backed out, they stepped forward. Renowned for their low-ball bargaining tactics and second-tier tastes, the Bengals nearly shed their cheapskate image with an attempted spending spree. They made Grbac at least two offers that were substantially better than the deal the free agent quarterback signed with the Baltimore Ravens Tuesday night.
Yes, the bottom line is the Bengals failed to get their man. But no, striped skeptics, it was not on account of frugality.
“We had
an enormous offer out,” said Troy Blackburn, the Bengals' director of stadium development. “I'm not going to get into a discussion of the (specifics), but I have no doubt that we offered the strongest financial offer anywhere ... They came back and said, "Can you go higher?' We said, "If we go higher, it's going to preclude us from signing anyone else.' We had to make a decision on whether to put all our eggs in one basket.”
Offered millions more
As it was, the Bengals had enough eggs in Grbac's basket to make all Ohioans an omelette. Grbac's deal with Baltimore is for $30 million over five years — including an $11 million signing bonus — and agent Jim Steiner acknowledged this was millions less than the Bengals' best shot.
The Ravens were able to get Grbac at a discount because they just won the Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer, a quarterback who was more a bystander than a playmaker. The lure of playing for such a powerful team was a consideration the Bengals could not match. Yet as late as Tuesday morning, Steiner was imploring Blackburn to get back in the bidding.
Odds are, the agent was simply trying to use Mike Brown's league-leading cap room to drive up Art Modell's cost. Still, for the first time since the dawn of unfettered free agency, the Bengals are behaving like serious players rather than diffident spectators.
“We want to win this year,” said Blackburn, Brown's son-in-law. “We want to win immediately.”
By pursuing Grbac, the Bengals said they were prepared to forsake Akili Smith's development in return for some fast results. That much has not changed, nor should it. Smith's continuing difficulties in deciphering NFL defenses and his recent DUI arrest indicate a player with much to prove. The Bengals would be negligent if they fail to sign at least one veteran quarterback.
Pick of the rest
Absent Elvis, the Bengals will look next to the remaining field of free agent quarterbacks — including Dilfer, Doug Flutie, Gus Frerotte and Jon Kitna — and they may be nearing the point where they can have their pick.
“They know we've got the money,” Blackburn said. “They know we're willing to spend it. And they know that until Akili establishes himself, they've got the chance to compete.”
Mike Brown likened this year's quarterback market to a game of musical chairs. There are more useful quarterbacks, he said, than there are places for them to land.
In chasing Elvis Grbac, the Bengals demonstrated they are no longer content to wait for the music to stop to learn what is left.
E-mail tsullivan@enquirer.com. Past columns at Enquirer.com/columns/sullivan.
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SULLIVAN: Bengals finally get serious