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It was easy to speculate the Cincinnati Bengals could end up reuniting with defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi after his deal in free agency with the Chicago Bears fell apart.
In fact, the team’s official website even hinted as much recently in the wake of a failed physical ending Ogunjobi’s agreed-upon deal with the Bears.
But speaking with reporters early this week, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor seemed to make it clear that proverbial ship has sailed, per The Athletic’s Jay Morrison:
“We feel like Larry was one of us. He was only here for a year, but what he did for us this past year was spectacular. I’ll always feel for Larry, in a lot of ways, is a Bengal for life. So it was unfortunate to see what happened because I know he worked so hard. Your heart breaks when something falls through like that. We’ve all been in touch with Larry since this happened, just to support him. Because again, he’s one of us even though he was only here for 10 months. He did a lot of special things for our coaching staff.”
That’s not an outright no by any means, but sounds like the Bengals might expect Ogunjobi to go out and still get a pretty healthy offer from another team once he can prove he’ll pass a physical.
Still, this whole saga is proof things in the NFL can change incredibly fast. A 3-tech pass-rusher to work alongside the newly re-signed B.J. Hill is still a major need for the Bengals and Ogunjobi still perfectly fits it, so it’ll be interesting to track the veteran’s journey over the summer.
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