After months of inactivity, the Bengals and Corey Dillon's agent will meet “sometime this week” to begin contract negotiations for the free-agent running back, said Bengals president Mike Brown.

        “He's our key player,” Brown said Tuesday. “We want him. We need him.”

        Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn will handle negotiations for the team. David Dunn will represent Dillon.

        Blackburn said the club had spoken with Dunn, but declined to say if a meeting had been set. Several messages were left for Dunn, who did not respond.

        Dillon, a four-year veteran and Pro Bowler the past two years, said Monday he wants his agent and the Bengals to talk until they reach a deal. He held out last year before signing a one-year $3 million contract in training camp.

        Those negotiations, managed by agent Marvin Demoff, were often confrontational and mean-spirited. This season, with Dillon using the Paul Brown Stadium workout facilities regularly, the relationship is apparently cordial.

        Dillon, who rushed for a team-record 1,435 yards in 2000, has liked the Bengals' offseason moves, which include the signings of former Pro Bowl left tackle Rich mond Webb and fullback Lorenzo Neal since the draft.

        Dillon received no offers on the market, as Brown maintained the Bengals would exercise their right to match any offer to the transition-tagged free agent.

        “We've moved past the free-agent framework,” Brown said.

        Dillon is expected to seek more than $6 million a year for five or six seasons, with more than $12 million to sign.

        For the first time, Dillon and his wife, Desiree, made their offseason home in suburban Cincinnati instead of his native Seattle. He said Monday the move has been good for them. In January, a Seattle-area judge ruled domestic-violence charges against Dillon would be dropped by July 2002 if he donated $750 to a domestic-violence center and attended prevention classes.

        “Staying down here was better on us,” said Dillon, who was arrested in August in Federal Way, Wash., for allegedly striking his wife, but denied hitting her and said he was defending himself.

        “We were away from some of the tensions and frustration back there in Seattle. It was a smart move on both our parts to stay down here and bond.”

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