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Notes: Hartwell eyes 'perfect fit'
By GEOFF HOBSON
April 29, 2007
RELATED: Bengals Draft Central 2007
Updated: 4-30-07, 7:55 p.m.
Ed Hartwell
A one-year deal for linebacker Ed Hartwell in Cincinnati is "expected to get worked out," and maybe as soon as Tuesday, agent, Harold Lewis said Monday night.
"The team knows and Eddie knows it's a perfect fit," Lewis said. "For years people have been talking about their offense. You bring in a guy like Eddie Hartwell, and suddenly people are talking about your defense. We're stil working on some things, but I expect we'll get it worked out."
Even head coach Marvin Lewis, usually mum on the subject of free agents, was expansive on the subject of Hartwell Sunday night after the Bengals didn't draft a linebacker this past weekend. Harold Lewis said his client is anxious for a reunion with Marvin Lewis. His old coach in Baltimore sounds like he's looking forward to it as well.
“It’s a possibility,” Marvin Lewis said. “He’s looking for a place to call home.”
Marvin Lewis joked that after the Ravens took Hartwell in the fourth round in his last year as defensive coordinator in 2001, he never let him play a down of defense.
"He must really like me," Lewis said.
Lewis said Sunday night he felt good about the seven newest Bengals, but admitted he’ll probably feel better next year when he figures the Bengals will have as many as four compensatory picks because of free-agent losses.
He noted the bushel held by AFC North rivals Pittsburgh and Baltimore that, along with Cleveland, Lewis thought had solid drafts.
“Those teams, with those picks get an opportunity to do that,” Lewis said. “I think we’ll sit here next year and feeling a little stronger about where you’re picking, No. 1, and having more picks, and you can fill on paper what are perceived needs.”
The Bengals did fill some of their more glaring needs by taking three of the most physical defensive backs in the draft, one of the top speed backs, and a fifth-round pick projected as the long-term backup quarterback.
“We can fill 11 spots next year; you guys will be happy,” Lewis told the media.
Lewis couldn’t help but gaze back at the second round when the Bengals drafted Auburn running back Kenny Irons with the 49th pick. That came at the end of a defensive run that whisked away the Michigan duo of inside linebacker David Harris and defensive end Lamarr Woodley just before the Bengals picked.
“The only thing that you can possibly do is allow people to (trade) up to your spot,” Lewis said of trades, “and if a guy you have in your grouping of three or four guys is there, then you’re probably going to stay there and pick the guy.
“If they’re not, then you have a chance to move back. The only time in the second were people really hot to move up, and when everybody got to our pick they quit calling because the guys we all coveted, which I think were all defensive players, were all gone off the board.”
SLANTS AND SCREENS
The Bengals had some ties in this draft. UTEP quarterback Jordan Palmer, brother of quarterback Carson, was the next-to-last quarterback to go when Washington took him with the 205th pick in the sixth round.
The brother and teammate of Bengals second-rounder Kenny Irons, the running back from Auburn, cornerback David Irons, went in the sixth round to the Falcons.
Oregon defensive tackle Matt Toeina went to the same high school in America Samoa his freshman year with current Bengals defensive linemen Domata Peko and Jonathan Fanene.
“I think it will make me more comfortable in situations,” he said.
Asked how he went from a 245-pound freshman fullback to a 300-pound tackle and end, he said, “I think the dollar menu across the street (at McDonald’s) from the dormitory didn’t help.”
Hayes
Is Bengals tight ends coach Jon Hayes sure he’s a boyhood friend of head coach Marvin Lewis? After his fifth draft was completed Sunday, Hayes has still yet to draft a tight end. The last one selected was Matt Schobel, 47 picks ago in the third round of 2002, the draft before Lewis and Hayes arrived.
This year was a mild surprise because with Tony Stewart’s departure to Oakland, there is no experienced tight end behind starter Reggie Kelly. The only backup tight end on the roster with any game experience is Gregg Guenther with five for Tennessee in 2005.
But Lewis is high on him as well as Tim Day, a guy who has already been with two other clubs. Along with Ronnie Ghent, a veteran of the last eight Bengals preseason games as well as four with the Eagles in 2004, the Bengals figure they have more experience than any guy they would draft in the late rounds.
They had no shot at Arizona State’s Zach Miller in the second round because he went 11 picks before to Oakland. The next one wasn’t taken until the third round at No. 77 when the Steelers took Matt Spaeth out of Minnesota, and the Bengals would have picked 80th if they hadn’t used the third-rounder in the supplemental draft on Ahmad Brooks.
Agent Richard Katz said Sunday night the Bengals expressed some interest in his client, University of Cincinnati tight end Brent Celek for later in the draft. But he wasn’t there when the Eagles took him in the fifth round after the Bengals took Nevada quarterback Jeff Rowe earlier in the round.
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By GEOFF HOBSON
April 29, 2007
RELATED: Bengals Draft Central 2007
Updated: 4-30-07, 7:55 p.m.
Ed Hartwell
A one-year deal for linebacker Ed Hartwell in Cincinnati is "expected to get worked out," and maybe as soon as Tuesday, agent, Harold Lewis said Monday night.
"The team knows and Eddie knows it's a perfect fit," Lewis said. "For years people have been talking about their offense. You bring in a guy like Eddie Hartwell, and suddenly people are talking about your defense. We're stil working on some things, but I expect we'll get it worked out."
Even head coach Marvin Lewis, usually mum on the subject of free agents, was expansive on the subject of Hartwell Sunday night after the Bengals didn't draft a linebacker this past weekend. Harold Lewis said his client is anxious for a reunion with Marvin Lewis. His old coach in Baltimore sounds like he's looking forward to it as well.
“It’s a possibility,” Marvin Lewis said. “He’s looking for a place to call home.”
Marvin Lewis joked that after the Ravens took Hartwell in the fourth round in his last year as defensive coordinator in 2001, he never let him play a down of defense.
"He must really like me," Lewis said.
Lewis said Sunday night he felt good about the seven newest Bengals, but admitted he’ll probably feel better next year when he figures the Bengals will have as many as four compensatory picks because of free-agent losses.
He noted the bushel held by AFC North rivals Pittsburgh and Baltimore that, along with Cleveland, Lewis thought had solid drafts.
“Those teams, with those picks get an opportunity to do that,” Lewis said. “I think we’ll sit here next year and feeling a little stronger about where you’re picking, No. 1, and having more picks, and you can fill on paper what are perceived needs.”
The Bengals did fill some of their more glaring needs by taking three of the most physical defensive backs in the draft, one of the top speed backs, and a fifth-round pick projected as the long-term backup quarterback.
“We can fill 11 spots next year; you guys will be happy,” Lewis told the media.
Lewis couldn’t help but gaze back at the second round when the Bengals drafted Auburn running back Kenny Irons with the 49th pick. That came at the end of a defensive run that whisked away the Michigan duo of inside linebacker David Harris and defensive end Lamarr Woodley just before the Bengals picked.
“The only thing that you can possibly do is allow people to (trade) up to your spot,” Lewis said of trades, “and if a guy you have in your grouping of three or four guys is there, then you’re probably going to stay there and pick the guy.
“If they’re not, then you have a chance to move back. The only time in the second were people really hot to move up, and when everybody got to our pick they quit calling because the guys we all coveted, which I think were all defensive players, were all gone off the board.”
SLANTS AND SCREENS
The Bengals had some ties in this draft. UTEP quarterback Jordan Palmer, brother of quarterback Carson, was the next-to-last quarterback to go when Washington took him with the 205th pick in the sixth round.
The brother and teammate of Bengals second-rounder Kenny Irons, the running back from Auburn, cornerback David Irons, went in the sixth round to the Falcons.
Oregon defensive tackle Matt Toeina went to the same high school in America Samoa his freshman year with current Bengals defensive linemen Domata Peko and Jonathan Fanene.
“I think it will make me more comfortable in situations,” he said.
Asked how he went from a 245-pound freshman fullback to a 300-pound tackle and end, he said, “I think the dollar menu across the street (at McDonald’s) from the dormitory didn’t help.”
Hayes
Is Bengals tight ends coach Jon Hayes sure he’s a boyhood friend of head coach Marvin Lewis? After his fifth draft was completed Sunday, Hayes has still yet to draft a tight end. The last one selected was Matt Schobel, 47 picks ago in the third round of 2002, the draft before Lewis and Hayes arrived.
This year was a mild surprise because with Tony Stewart’s departure to Oakland, there is no experienced tight end behind starter Reggie Kelly. The only backup tight end on the roster with any game experience is Gregg Guenther with five for Tennessee in 2005.
But Lewis is high on him as well as Tim Day, a guy who has already been with two other clubs. Along with Ronnie Ghent, a veteran of the last eight Bengals preseason games as well as four with the Eagles in 2004, the Bengals figure they have more experience than any guy they would draft in the late rounds.
They had no shot at Arizona State’s Zach Miller in the second round because he went 11 picks before to Oakland. The next one wasn’t taken until the third round at No. 77 when the Steelers took Matt Spaeth out of Minnesota, and the Bengals would have picked 80th if they hadn’t used the third-rounder in the supplemental draft on Ahmad Brooks.
Agent Richard Katz said Sunday night the Bengals expressed some interest in his client, University of Cincinnati tight end Brent Celek for later in the draft. But he wasn’t there when the Eagles took him in the fifth round after the Bengals took Nevada quarterback Jeff Rowe earlier in the round.
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the only guy i'm really excited about is brooks, while johnson has proved consistent.hartwell has been productive and is interesting if he can stay healthy (assuming we sign him)miller and jeanty have shown that they can do little beyond stopping the bleeding, and i don't expect anything out of thurman or pollack.nicholson and everett are also interesting, and i've also heard that they're toying with eric henderson at linebacker.can't say i'm really excited about this lb corps though.
