Veteran safety Kerry Rhodes says that there are four teams he's talking to, and there are logical reasons to guess that Cleveland or Cincinnati may be among them.
Rhodes told an Alabama paper yesterday:
"I can't talk about it in depth but there's a good four teams that I'm looking at. There are ongoing discussions. I'm trying to see which one will be the best fit for me. You will see me, though."
Whether the Cleveland Browns or Cincinnati Bengals are among the 12.5% of NFL teams supposedly talking to Rhodes is unknown at this point as Rhodes won't disclose them. Still, there are good reasons to suggest that either Ohio team may be among them.
For the Bengals part, they hosted Rhodes at their facility this past April, and might be tempted to add him for a playoff run at the veteran minimum. Rhodes is now 30, but is still playing well, and had a solid season in 2012 in Arizona. The veteran may simply be seeing if any NFL club is willing to pay him more than the vet minimum.
As for the Browns, the logical connection between Rhodes and the team is ex-Arizona defensive coordinator Ray Horton, who now runs the Browns defense. The Browns DC reportedly thinks "very highly" of Rhodes, but, when asked about Rhodes in May, Browns GM Mike Lombardi said that he's "focusing on Cleveland Browns players and seeing where we are".
Although some in the Cleveland media suggest that the Browns won't pursue him, the idea still makes a lot of logical sense for a defensive backfield dependent on two young safeties (Tashaun Gipson and Johnson Bademosi) and with a need for veteran leadership.
But since Rhodes isn't giving us the names of the four teams he's talking to, all we're left with is really conjecture at this point.
h/t to Cincy Jungle.
