Cincinnati Bengals re-sign unrestricted free agent Manny Lawson on unspecified deal-NFL News
The Cincinnati Bengals have finally settled down with their vows at the outside linebacker position by re-signing linebacker, Manny Lawson, on a new contract, off the free agency.
Lawson became an unrestricted free agent following the failure of a breakthrough in the negotiations for new deal with the team, but now both parties reportedly have agreed to a new deal, which was signed by the stakeholders on Friday,
March 30, 2012. The terms of the deal, including its tenure and value, have not been made public.
As a result of the deal, Lawson will come back with Bengals into second year of his career at Cincinnati. He played for full season with the team in 2011 on a year deal, which he had signed after deserting the San Francisco 49ers.
He was recruited as a first-round pick by the San Francisco 49ers in 2006 and spent five consecutive years with them. At many occasions, he had been placed into the starting role and performed rather well during all those opportunities.
The Cincinnati Bengals signed him on a year deal for the 2011 season and he started for the team 16 times, remaining successful most of the times.
With his previous deal ran out at end of the season, an amount of uncertainty surrounded his future on the free agency.
Lawson finished his first season with Bengals with the record of 78 tackles and 1.5 sacks. He is said to be aiming for improvement when he rejoins the squad later this season.
The management is said to be happy over the arrangement with the player, but it is not clear how long the player is going to be associated with Bengals under the new deal.
Bengals have recently been struggling to find a solution to the outside linebacker position, which, with miss of a couple of players, lacks the required depth and strength.
Their other linebackers are tangled in issues of their own. Middle linebacker, Rey Maualuga, is on the verge of a suspension on a misdemeanour charge from the league office. He is due to face a court hearing on April 26, 2012 on
the same charge.
Maualuga had also been suspended by the league office for two games on the charge of drunken driving in 2010, which the player had pleaded guilty to.
There is no confirmation on return of Keith Rivers who missed the entire 2011 season due to a surgery on his right wrist.
Amid all the issues, Bengals hardly had an option than to re-sign Lawson. The signing, which has come through some earlier difficulties, is going to help the team’s cause to some extent.
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