Safety Chris Crocker re-signs with Cincinnati Bengals, replaces waived TE Donald Lee – NFL News
The Cincinnati Bengals have released tight end Donald Lee to accommodate new signee free agent safety Chris Crocker, who has returned to the side after a gap of about five months after his waiver by the team on April 06 this year.
Chris has been with the Bengals since 2008 but was let go earlier this year. The decision to bring him back has come as a result of the team’s continued woes at safety. The Bengals rank at 29th position in the defence on the National Football
League (NFL) defence rankings chart of total 32 franchises.
The safety was the mainstay of the Bengals’ defence since his joining and was given the starting role in all 16 games of the season last year. He had also led the defence in the playoff game which the team lost to the Houston Texans.
Earlier this year, following release of Chris, the team tried Donald and some other options to boost their defence but without much avail and now finally decided to return to him again.
The defence situation is rather a concern for the team given they have stayed at the bottom of the league’s defence rankings for quite a longer period. Only three teams are worse in the defence than them and this weakness has taken a considerable toll on
their overall performance and defensive line’s output in particular.
Terms of the deal now given to Crocker have not been disclosed by either of the parties and it remains unclear if the player has been given a revised payout on the deal or he has accepted to return on previous terms.
The payout may not be an issue for the player as such given that he was waived by the team to become free agent and could not attract another team.
Some commentators see it a well-thought strategy of the Bengals to try out other options such as players from the practice squad to find a potential performer during the offseason and training phases and after failure to find one, they have brought the safety
back in the squad.
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