Bengals Free Agency 2023: Arrivals, departures, rumors from Day 1 of free agency
The legal tampering portion of free agency took place on Monday and Tuesday and free agency officially opened at 4:00 EST on Wednesday. Before it did, however, the Cincinnati Bengals saw their roster change some more.
The first thing to happen was losing Hayden Hurst to the Panthers, who signed him to a three-year deal. Hurst signed with the Bengals last offseason and benefitted from his big season in the best possible way. He has a lengthy contract and will now go to a rebuilding team that could desperately use another big season from him.
It wasn't all negative on Wednesday morning, however, as the team did re-sign running back Trayveon Williams. A sixth-round pick by Cincinnati in 2019, Williams has never started a game for the team that drafted him but he's appeared in 34 games and rushed for 238 yards during that time.
#Bengals plan to re-sign running back Trayveon Williams, per source. Could see elevated role with Samaje Perine headed to Denver.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) March 15, 2023
Williams is only 25 (and he turns 26 in October) so there's not much wear and tear on him. He could end up being a really good backup option for the team, assuming they cut Joe Mixon and sign another veteran as their starter.
Edited to add - Late in the day the Bengals agreed to a terms on a four-year deal with Orlando Brown! This gives them their left tackle of the future and they honestly got him for a pretty reasonable deal.
In Orlando Brown's new, 4-year deal with the #Bengals, he gets 67.87% of the $64.092M fully guaranteed, with $42.3M through year 2 and $49.9M through 3. By that point, he'll be ready for the next deal.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 16, 2023
Bengals free agency Day 1
Rumors-wise, nothing transpired. C.J. Gardner-Johnson had been flirting with Bengals fans on Twitter (not literally but you get what I'm saying) but the reports came through that the Eagles are trying hard to retain him. Cincinnati has other options remaining but with Jordan Poyer going back to Buffalo and Juan Thornhill signing with the Browns, the position is starting to see more players fly off the board.
Next. Bengals 2023 Free Agent Tracker. dark
Free agency officially kicked off at 4:00 EST and that means there's still plenty of time for this team to make some moves. Patience is key, my friends.