Expect Graham to get boot

From - News Cincinnati http://news.cincinnati.com

The odds of Bengals kicker Shayne Graham returning to the Bengals have gone from slim to near none, especially after what has transpired on Friday.

The team tried out two kickers, Nick Novak and Dave Rayner, with Rayner’s agent announcing Friday night that his client has been signed. That means there will at least be a kicker on the roster when free agency starts on March 5.

With the franchise tag for Graham being close to $3 million, it was unlikely that the Bengals would use it on him for the same reason. Even though all signs point toward Graham not being here, special teams coach Darrin Simmons did leave the door slightly ajar.

“It’s going to be an ongoing evaluation where we are going to bring some free agents in and see where Shayne falls in comparison to them,” Simmons said. “We’ll also have to see the likelihood of signing a free agent or possibly getting a kicker in the draft and going that route. We could re-sign Shayne, but we have to determine whether it is feasible and the money involved.”

Graham was tagged by the Bengals last year for $2.483 million, and if they would chose to do so again this year it would be $2.814 million. After Graham was tagged last year, both sides tried to reach a multi-year agreement with no success. He goes into this offseason with a new agent, dropping Rob Roche in favor of David Dunn.

The lack of a new contract exasperated Graham. When the July 15 deadline passed, he ripped the organization on his Facebook page. We also never did find out if Graham thought if his two misses against the Jets in the AFC wild card playoff game were his last. Graham quickly left the locker room after the game and also ducked out of a side entrance the next day when players were departing for the offseason.

Graham did end up having four game-winning kicks in seven seasons with the Bengals, but it is four notable misses that resonate the most. Besides the playoff misses, there were two memorable wide rights.text ignoredA 39-yard miss against the Steelers in 2006 that ended up costing the Bengals back-to-back trips to the playoffs and in 2008 against the Eagles a 47-yard miss on the next-to-last play of overtime, which led to a tie.

This past season, Graham was 23 of 30 on field goals. He did tie a career long with a 53-yarder against Cleveland in Week 12.

This will be Rayner’s second stint withtext ignoredthe Bengals. He was signed in 2008 while Graham nursed a groin injury. In two games he was 1-for-1 on field goals and 2-for-2 extra points. He was in Redskins camptext ignoredlast preseason, making all six extra points and a field goal, but lost the competition to Shaun Suisham.

The fourth-year player has also been with Indianapolis, Green Bay, Kansas City and San Diego. For his career he has made 42 of 59 field goal attempts (71.2 percent), with a long of 54 yards.

Even with Rayner’s signing, this will remain an ongoing process. Expect the Bengals to look for another kicker in free agency or even draft one in the later rounds even though it is considered to be a weak class.

Among some of the more interesting unrestricted free agents out there are Pittsburgh’s Jeff Reed, former Cowboy Nick Folk, the Jets’ Jay Feely, ex-Bengal and current Cardinal Neil Rackers, Seattle’s Olindo Mare and former Buckeye Mike Nugent.

NO SENSE TO TAG: Financially, applying the franchise tag to any of the other remaining Bengals’ unrestricted free agents doesn’t make much sense.

If they were to use it on defensive tackle Tank Johnson it would cost $7.003 million. As for others it would break down as this: safety Roy Williams ($6.455 million), offensive guard Bobbie Williams ($10.731 million), tight end Reggie Kelly ($5.908 million), running back Larry Johnson and fullback Jeremi Johnson ($8.156 million).

The franchise tag price is determined by the average top five salaries at that position from last season.

In an uncapped year teams are also allowed to use a transition tag on two players, which is the average top 10 salaries at that position. The transition tags though average to only $500,000 less than the franchise tag. The deadline to apply the franchise or transition tags is Feb. 25.

KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES: The signing of Matt Jones makes sense for both parties – it gives him a chance to make the most of a second chance in the NFL and the Bengals have a receiver with a one-year deal just slightly above the league minimum.

This signing is also different than the other deals that might have given Bengals fans pause in the past. In this case another team (Tennessee) was also vying for the services of a player.

While Matt Jones signing is sure to draw the usual one-liners about the Bengals signing players with questionable pasts, the thing that drew the biggest ire was the workout of Adam “Pacman” Jones. It’s also a surprise considering the Bengals have bigger needs at safety than they do at cornerback.

Matt Jones signing also means one other thing – any interest in Dante Stallworth is gone. Stallworth, who was released by Cleveland on Monday after being reinstated by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, could make for a good deep threat for some teams, but questions about his durability and accountability will require due diligence.

COMBINE COUNTDOWN: Two players to keep an eye on at the NFL Scouting Combine in two weeks are cornerbacks Devin McCourty of Rutgers and Akwasi Owusu-Ansah of Indiana (Pa.). Both are working out down in Naples, Fla., in Clif Marshall’s Ignition program and also get to go up against Mardy Gilyard on a daily basis.

“It’s been good but we’re all seeing that competitive nature,” said McCourty of his time so far in Florida. “Going up against this guy (Gilyard) is tough all the time.”

While McCourty is in combine training mode, as in trying to improve his 40 time, Owusu-Ansah is looking at improving everything about his game.

“Physically I’m there but I think my biggest thing is technique and playing the position, footwork and reading coverages,” Owusu-Ansah said.