Swing and a Miss

Spring Training and free agency coincide and to celebrate the return of baseball the Bengals have struck out in the Anquan Boldin sweepstakes. What makes it sting even more is the only team in the league more depraved of wide receiver depth was the Ravens and now the Bengals will have to see Boldin twice a year.

Oye.

But hey there are still options out there. Namely Antonio Bryant. Bryant has had a bizarre career with the Cowboys, Browns, 49ers and Buccaneers. After seven seasons in the league he has only had two 1,000 yard receiving seasons the more recent of the two coming in 2008 with Tampa Bay. That same season he had seven Touchdowns topping his previous best of six during his rookie season.

The inconsistency is a little suspicious and he has had his share of diva receiver(redundant?) moments. Still I would rather take Bryant over the next option, Terrell Owens. ProFootballTalk.com and practically every other outlet reports the Bengals have an interest in T.O. and have contacted his agent Drew "Next Question" Rosenhaus.

Joy.

Chad Ochocinco has made it no secret that he wants the 37-year-old T.O. in Cincinnati but recently Carson Palmer replied in a text about the situation to Bengals.com writer Geoff Hobson:

"His past doesn't bother me at all. If any QB can deal with extravagant WR's it's me."

I hope he is right. Right now it's looking more and more like T.O. and Ochocinco will be getting their wish.

The only other options floating around are former Bill Josh Reed and former Raven Derrick Mason. Mason will probably retire or be back with the Ravens and Reed has never had 600 yards receiving or more than two touchdowns in a season. I suppose you could include Brandon Marshall on the list of available wide outs but who really thinks Mike Brown has the wherewithal to pull that off?

Expecting the Bengals to pull the trigger right at the start of free agency might have been naive considering the Kim Herring's and Ben Utecht's of previous Bengal's free agencies. Mea Culpa. But a splash is needed to improve the passing attack of this team. Matt Jones is not going to cut it.