By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Bengals will hold their first minicamp of the spring Friday through Sunday.

It is a voluntary camp for the 21 veterans who have signed up to participate with rookies in the single practice on Friday. Some of the veterans are newcomers, such as guard Bobbie Williams and cornerback Alvin Porter.

The camp is mandatory for rookies, who will practice once Friday and twice each on Saturday and Sunday, a team spokesman said.

A year ago, because Marvin Lewis was a rookie head coach in the NFL, the Bengals were allowed three full-squad minicamps. One was mandatory.

The Bengals' mandatory, full-squad minicamp will be June 11-13.

Both camps will be held at the practice fields adjacent to Paul Brown Stadium.

MOVE-IN DAY: Cornerback Deltha O'Neal, acquired in a trade April 9 from Denver, moved into his stadium locker Monday. It was the one formerly occupied by disgruntled running back Corey Dillon, who was traded April 19 to New England. O'Neal said he was relieved to be out of Denver, where he had fallen out of favor with Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, and is looking forward to justifying Lewis' faith in him as the probable starter opposite Tory James.

"Absolutely," O'Neal said. "It's great to be here."

While O'Neal gets Dillon's locker, Dillon's former No. 28 jersey will go - at least temporarily - to college free agent running back Nick Ayers. He played high school ball at Glen Este and college ball at Georgetown (Ky.) College, home of the Bengals training camp.

SENIOR BENGAL: Center Rich Braham is looking forward to his 11th season with the Bengals and wants to better his best records with the teams. Twice in his 10 seasons with the Bengals, they've gone 8-8, including in 2003 under rookie coach Lewis. Twice Braham's teams have gone 7-9. He's shooting for a playoff berth.

"We have a long grind ahead of us," said Braham, who is enthused by the turnout of teammates in the offseason strength and conditioning program.

Braham, who will turn 34 in November, is second only to right tackle Willie Anderson in current career Bengals starts with 106 and games with 119.

He is the senior Bengal on the roster in terms of time served. He was claimed Nov. 18, 1994, off waivers from Arizona. Braham said he watched the early rounds of the 2004 draft with interest and likes the selection of running back Chris Perry in the first round.

"Getting rid of Corey (Dillon), I think it was a good acquisition to pick (Perry)," Braham said. "I think it's going to help the team."

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E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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