By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Coach Marvin Lewis' Bengals will be tested early and often in the preseason.

Their preseason schedule, released Tuesday, finds Cincinnati playing three of its four exhibition games against 2002 playoff teams.

The Bengals will visit the AFC East champion New York Jets to open the preseason. The date and time of that game have not been set.

On Aug.16, the Bengals will play their first home game under Lewis against the Detroit Lions and their new coach, Steve Mariucci. On Aug.23, the Bengals will play host to AFC South champion Tennessee. Both home preseason games will begin at 7:30 p.m.

The Bengals will close their preseason the final weekend of August with a game at Indianapolis, a wildcard team in 2002.

"We've been presented with a nice challenge," Lewis said in a statement released by the Bengals. "We're playing three playoff teams, plus a team (Detroit) with a new coach who consistently had San Francisco in the playoffs.

"Our defense will be facing some of the hottest quarterbacks from the end of last season, and there's a couple of top-10 defenses (Tennessee and Indianapolis) for our offense to face."

The NFL office arranged the preseason schedule for the first time for its member teams; clubs formerly set up their own exhibition games. Individual teams still will determine the dates and kickoff times for their home preseason games.

STILL THINKING:Former Bengals coach Dick LeBeau is still considering an offer to join the Buffalo Bills' coaching staff.

"I don't know yet what I'm going to do," LeBeau said Tuesday.

The Bills have offered LeBeau an unspecified job to work with their defense.

LeBeau has coached as an assistant, defensive coordinator or head coach for 30 years in the NFL. He spent the previous 14 as a player for the Detroit Lions.

CONTRACT OFFERS:The Bengals on Tuesday made one-year tender offers to a group of fourth-year players who will become restricted free agents Feb.28 if they do not sign new contracts with the team.

The players are wide receivers Ron Dugans and Danny Farmer, kicker Neil Rackers, linebacker Armegis Spearman and long snapper/tight end Brad St.Louis.

The minimum salary for a player with four to six credited seasons is $530,000.

The designations allow the Bengals the right to match any offer sheets the players might receive from another team. Then if the Bengals decide not to match an offer, and if the player in question was originally a Bengals draft choice, the new team signing the player will be required to compensate the Bengals with a draft choice in the same round in which the player was drafted.

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com