Bengals tender Fitzpatrick

The Bengals this morning announced they have offered a restricted free agent tender to quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick.

But the club did not offer tender contracts to wide receiver Tab Perry and offensive tackle Adam Kieft, releasing them to free agency. The Bengals are trying to reach a contract with Perry, though they did not tender him in free agency.

Fitzpatrick received a "draft-status" tender, the team said without revealing the amount. It is $927,000.

By making the tender, the Bengals gain the right to retain Fitzpatrick by matching any offer sheet he would sign from another team. Fitzpatrick could also remain with the Bengals by signing the tender offer, or by negotiating a longer-term contract with them.

Fitzpatrick entered the NFL in 2005 as a seventh-round draft choice of St. Louis, and his Bengals tender is at a dollar amount which qualifies as his "draft-status level." If he signs elsewhere and the Bengals decline to match, the Bengals will be compensated his new team’s seventh-round choice in the 2008 draft.

The deadline for a restricted free agent to sign an offer sheet from another team is April 19.
Any restricted free agent who has not signed an offer sheet by that date will have his 2008 NFL rights revert exclusively to his 2007 club.

Perry and Kieft remain unsigned. They will be eligible to negotiate with any NFL team, including the Bengals, as of Friday, when the NFL's veteran free agency signing period begins.

Kieft has not played in a game since sustaining a serious knee injury in training camp as a rookie in 2005. Perry, because of hip and knee injuries, has played in only four games the past two seasons.