Robertson agent: Contract the issue

Agent Hadley Engelhard spoke Monday night to the New York Daily News about the proposed trade of Jets defensive tackle Dewayne Robertson to the Bengals for two draft picks. And Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum was available to reporters that cover the team on a conference call.

"Obviously, we were close," Tannenbaum said.

The Bengals agreed to trade fourth- and fifth-round picks to the Jets, the best deal the team had received for Robertson. He was in Cincinnati on Monday for a physical and to meet with the Bengals, Engelhard told The Daily News.

The sticking point was reworking Robertson's contract, which calls for base salaries totaling $18.8 million over the next two seasons.

"We couldn't come to terms, plain and simple," the agent told The Daily News.

According to the paper, Robertson had surgery on a broken hand recently, which did not worry the Bengals, Engelhard said. But the Bengals might have been wary of a bone-on-bone condition in Robertson's knee, the agent said.