Veteran Eric Winston has signed a one-year contract with the Bengals. Winston, a nine-year player who happens to also be the president of the NFL Players Association, spent training camp with Seattle but has not played this season.
The team made the official announcement Tuesday afternoon. The Bengals waived offensive tackle Jamon Meredith in a corresponding move but still have one open spot available on the 53-man roster. Linebacker Jayson DiManche was placed on injured reserve Monday with a broken forearm. The Bengals would like to add another linebacker to help with depth at the position and on special teams. Smith suffered a torn triceps against Houston on Nov. 23 and subsequently was placed on injured reserve. He was replaced by Marshall Newhouse against the Texans and Newhouse started last Sunday's 14-13 win at Tampa Bay, although right guard Clint Boling also took some snaps at tackle as the Bengals search for the best combination of players heading into the final four games of the season. "Not good enough," said head coach Marvin Lewis when asked about how the offensive line played as a whole against Tampa Bay. "Not as good as we need. We had a couple guys play pretty well, but as a group we didn't play as well as we needed to play. We need to play better."
The offense produced just 288 yards against the Buccaneers. QB Andy Dalton was sacked twice and Tampa Bay was credited with four hits on him as well as seven tackles for loss in the game. The Bengals signed Meredith, a sixth-year player, last week after Smith was placed on IR but Winston (6-6, 305) brings a deeper resume to the roster. Winston, 31, entered the league as a third round draft pick by Houston in 2006 and has started 119 of the 126 games he's played, including all 16 games in each of the previous seven seasons. He was with the Texans from 2006-11, played for Kansas City in 2012 and was with Arizona last season.