Following the strategy that they used last year, the Bengals officially announced that they have re-signed offensive guard Mike Pollak. Terms of the agreement have not been announced but it is for three years. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported that Pollak would earn $5 million over the life of the deal if he is a reserve or $7.5 million if he becomes a starter.
Pollak, who is going into his seventh year, signed with the Bengals last year after spending most of his career with the Colts. He missed the first seven games due to a knee injury he suffered in the final preseason games but saw action in nine of the final 10. When right guard Kevin Zeitler went down with a foot injury after a Week 11 loss to Baltimore, Pollak started the next five games. In his first three starts, the Bengals did not allow a sack, marking their longest streak since the end of the 2007 season.
"Very simply, we are just glad to have Mike back," said Bengals offensive line coach Paul Alexander in a statement. "He's a veteran you can count on. When some injuries provided him an opportunity last year, he came through with flying colors for us."
Before the start of free agency last year the Bengals re-signed five players. They currently have 10 unrestricted free agents headlined by defensive end Michael Johnson and offensive tackle Anthony Collins
The other unrestricted free agents are wide receiver Brandon Tate, cornerback Brandon Ghee, tight end Alex Smith, offensive tackle Dennis Roland, punter Zoltan Mesko, linebacker Michael Boley and safeties Taylor Mays and Chris Crocker.
Today is the first day that teams can begin to call agents for unrestricted free agents on other teams to discuss deals. However, they can not visit team facilities and deals can not happen until the new league year begins on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
