The Cincinnati Bengals have worked through some minor roster housekeeping items ahead of free agency’s legal tampering window opening on Monday.
First up was not assigning a tender to defender Wyatt Ray, a rotational pass-rusher who qualified as an exclusive rights free agent. Doing so would’ve cost the team roughly $900,000.
That was reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, while the team itself announced the other move, re-signing linebacker Joe Bachie to a one-year deal.
Bachie came over this past season and started two games while Logan Wilson was out and showed some solid upside. Bringing him back actually says quite a bit about how much the team might address the unit in the draft or free agency, as they’re pretty sound across the board there.
Interestingly, the Bengals still have other exclusive rights free agents like Trenton Irwin and Mitchell Wilcox to make calls on, as well as restricted free agents Fred Johnson and Stanley Morgan.
Fans can expect movement on those names before the market opens.
