By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Corey Dillon tried to talk his way out of Cincinnati Wednesday night.

FREE AGENCY: Day 15

Bengals free agent action Wednesday: BENGALS CONFIRMED: The Bengals withdrew their one-year tender offer to restricted free agent linebacker Riall Johnson, releasing him into unrestricted free agency. OTHERWISE CONFIRMED: Cornerback Bobby Taylor spent most of Wednesday negotiating with the Seattle Seahawks. The Bengals have re-entered the bidding for Taylor. Bengals coaches also visited college pro days, including the University of Maryland where they watched defensive tackle Randy Starks. ON THE RADAR: The Bengals have big needs that Eagles free agent guard Bobbie Williams and Redskins free agent defensive tackle Lional Dalton can fill.

In his first public comments since season's end, on a television sports show, Dillon said, "No, not at all," when asked if he would be in Cincinnati on Monday for the start of the team's offseason strength and conditioning program.

Dillon, 29, who has two seasons remaining on a five-year contract with the Bengals, was a guest on Fox Sports' Best Damn Sports Show Period.

Dillon repeated comments he made at the end of the 2003 season, saying he wanted out of Cincinnati.

"I owed seven years of my career to them, and it's over," Dillon said of the Bengals. "It's time for us to just move on and move in a different direction."

Dillon also was critical of Bengals teammates Willie Anderson and Rudi Johnson, and said he became embroiled during the season in a "power struggle" with coach Marvin Lewis.

Right tackle Anderson, Dillon's teammate of seven years, had said that if Dillon didn't want to be with the Bengals, he should be let go. "Bye, good riddance," Anderson said Dec. 29.

"Willie Anderson rode coach Lewis to a Pro Bowl," Dillon said. "I made (three) Pro Bowls even before coach Lewis was even thought of.

"And now, for this guy (Anderson) to have the audacity to speak on me to the media, I think that was kind of girlish on his part. Be a real man and come talk to me about your problems."

Asked if he had talked to Anderson since the Dec. 29 comments, Dillon said, "He don't want to talk to me 'cause, you know, I had out liquid diets, and he don't want to go on that program right now. ... He's a bum. He's just a guy. I got more credentials than Willie Anderson, and for a guy of that caliber to even speak on me, that's just crazy."

The Oakland Raiders have offered the Bengals a third- or fourth-round draft pick for Dillon. Lewis and other Bengals officials have declined comment on the trade proposal.

"I'm going to tell you this, speaking with my agent (Steven Feldman), he calls Marvin Lewis. 'There's a deal on the table,'" Dillon said. "Marvin Lewis said, 'Get me this draft pick and this draft pick and it's a done deal.' My agent went out and got the draft picks, so it should be a done deal."

Dillon listed the Cowboys, Broncos and Raiders as the three teams he'd prefer to play for. He wore a white Raiders No. 34 Bo Jackson replica jersey during the Sports Show studio interview.

"I think I look good in the silver and black," he said.

Dillon also was asked about his relationship with Lewis.

"We portrayed it to the media that everything was OK, but you got a guy coming in and it's a power struggle," Dillon said. "He figured that I'd been there, I'm the guy, everybody looks at me, and I have some say so over what goes on in that organization.

"It kind of became a power struggle of him as a rookie head coach coming in trying to set the tone to let me know, 'Hey, this is how I'm running the program.' And I didn't have no problem with that. It just got a little out of control."

Then Dillon was asked if he would play the same role as he did in 2003, sharing time with Johnson: "No, 'cause Rudi ain't Corey Dillon.

"I'm still young. I think I still can do some things in this league."

Lewis could not be reached for comment Wednesday night. Dillon did not return phone message from the Enquirer on Monday and Tuesday.

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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