Bengals News: Bengals lost UDFA LB target to Broncos, Sean Payton

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The Cincinnati Bengals expressed interest in Fresno State linebacker Levelle Bailey in undrafted free agency. Bailey, though, wound up signing with the Denver Broncos, securing a $15,000 signing bonus with $125,000 of his contract guaranteed. According to the Denver Gazette’s Chris Tomasson, the Bengals were one of the teams after Bailey, but two calls from Broncos head coach Sean Payton swung the outcome: Bailey said he also was contacted by Carolina, Cincinnati and Minnesota about signing as a free agent. But did he get the same treatment from those teams that he did by Payton calling? “No,’’ he said. “I didn’t talk to their head coaches.” And that’s just how it goes in undrafted free agency. The Bengals didn’t draft a linebacker with one of their 10 picks in the draft itself, but did add two others in undrafted free agency. In fact, both of the linebacker prospects they agreed with in undrafted free agency even got a big signing bonus from the Bengals, too. Bengals' late-round rookie hyped as great value againBengals rookie tabbed as sleeper pick from 2024 draftBengals draft pick Amarius Mims: 5 things to know about 1st-round pick Email Sign up Like this article? Sign up for the Bengals Wire email newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning An error has occured Please re-enter your email address. Thanks for signing up! You'll now receive the top Bengals Wire stories each day directly in your inbox.

Source: https://bengalswire.usatoday.com/2024/0 ... an-payton/