According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, Bengals free agent RT Andre Smith is seeking $9 million annually in his next contract.
Florio adds that negotiations have already taken place between Smith and interested teams, which does qualify as tampering, but is by no means shocking given where we our in the offseason.
Cincinnati ultimately decided to use their franchise tag on DE Michael Johnson and allow Smith to test the open market.
Smith, 26, joins an already crowded group of offensive tackles, but is still one of the best available players at the right tackle position. Still, that kind of money is typically reserved for left tackles given the premium paid for protecting the quarterbacks blindside. It would be pretty surprising to see him walk away with that kind money given that there are some many options for teams to consider this year.
We have Smith listed as the No. 10 best available player in our Top 50 Free Agents list.
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