Small update on the Oline

[Kazkal]

Steinbach

Jack Bechta, the agent for left guard Eric Steinbach, said last week that extension talks haven’t yielded much agreement but he’ll keep at it. But not forever. Bechta said if there’s not a deal by around July 1, he won’t keep talking.

“At that point, you’re on the doorstep,” Bechta said of free agency.

Left tackle Levi Jones also said a few weeks ago that he’d like to get it wrapped up by training camp as well.

[andybren]

Curnette had a telling article the other day...

Steinbach says they've agreed on number of years but are still working on money. His agent's comment:

"We can't agree on anything."

So take it all with a grain of salt.

[BlainThePain]

It would be a dream come true to see Levi resigned before training camp.

[HairOnFire]

So take it all with a grain of salt.

Agreed. Bechta, Steinbach's agent, seems determined to negotiate through the press. He's never missed an opportunity to negate anything positve that was written about the negotiations, his client says he's been kept completely out of the loop, and Bechta was the first one at the bargaining table to offer up a meaningless deadline.

[AMC]

I think he has started to renegotiate the price after the Hutchinson deal, and the Bengals are having none of that....

Keeping Levi and Steiny off the open market is near impossible?

[ArmyBengal]

Yep, big money big money and Steinbach said it himself in the article at the .com in that the second contract is where you look to make your money. I'm still hoping against hope that both him and Levi get done, but have to think it is going to be tight for the o-line contracts.

WHODEY !!!

[Kazkal]

he only said it be nice and later said he knows hes not gonna get hutch money even though hutch isen't gonna see all of that

[HoosierCat]

Like I've been saying, Steinbach isn't going to come cheap. Irrespective of the Hutchinson deal, the fact is that the price of guards has been going up at a pretty good clip for several years now. Traditional thinking always put the money into tackles and centers and, not surprisingly, defenses began keying on the guards as a weak point a few years back. The law of supply and demand took over from there. Combine that with Eric's talent and versatility and you have a player who will command a premium price on the open market.

Agreed. Bechta, Steinbach's agent, seems determined to negotiate through the press. He's never missed an opportunity to negate anything positve that was written about the negotiations, his client says he's been kept completely out of the loop, and Bechta was the first one at the bargaining table to offer up a meaningless deadline.

The Bengals haven't been beyond taking their own shots. Marvin handed this comment to Daugherty, which he tucked in the bottom of a column a few days ago:

Contract issues can derail the train, and the Bengals have some, notably on the offensive line.

"There is a point where, as a club, you're not going to fool with that," Lewis said. "It's going to be impossible for us to get them all done, and we've told them that. First come, first served. We're not kidding."

Let the public sniping commence!