After not doing too much after the start of free agency, the Bengals spent $28 million on Tampa Bay Buccaneer wide receiver Antonio Bryant for four years. I am fairly happy with this signing. Ideally, he may not have been the top wide receiver free agent that I would’ve chosen. The Bengals were (supposedly) interested in Broncos receiver Brandon Marshall, and Terrell Owens just visited town today. Of the three choices, I would have easily chosen Marshall over Bryant, and Owens would’ve been my last resort (okay, over the past few weeks I was 100 percent prepared to justify the signing of T. O. and psych myself up with having both Chad and T.O…. All I have to say is, Thank GOD).

Still, Bryant is not the recently-cut Laveranues Coles (hopefully. Knock on wood and do the funky chicken dance. Okay, I think the curse is reversed). I mean, before we saw Coles drop a bunch of passes and basically get outplayed each week, he was considered a fast, dependable, deep-threat receiver. And we got jack poop. The thing is, Coles is only 32. It’s not like he’s ancient. I just don’t get how one year Coles was a decent, number one option for the Jets, and then he came to the Bengals and just sucked ass. The funny thing is, Coles, upon leaving the Bengals, said he felt he had a “good season” (is 514 receiving yards and just generally sucking “good” for you?), despite the fact that Carson Palmer (apparently) doesn’t like throwing to short receivers, according to Coles. How about Carson doesn’t like throwing to receivers who A) suck B) can’t get separation C) can’t hold on to the ball when it is thrown to them (first possession of playoffs) D) still suck.

Bryant, on the other hand, who is 6′1″, has had one spectacular season (1248 yards and 7 TDs), one good season (1009 yards and 4 TDs), and a bunch of mediocre seasons. One caveat to those stats is that he hasn’t had a QB of Carson’s caliber, so hopefully that could be a factor. Another warning, one of the negative variety, is that Bryant struggled last season because he had lingering knee pain after he went through surgery in the offseason. I just hope the Bengals have not just bought damaged goods and that Bryant has lost his explosiveness because of that surgery (knees are kind of important in running).

AND there’s also the issue of his “antics” or “troubles.” I guess he created some problems when one of his teams (the Bucs) did not offer to restructure his contract after his one spectacular season.

So here’s the worst case scenario: we’re gonna spend 28 mil on an injured receiver who has maturity issues and has not been consistent throughout his career.

Best case scenario: he’s awesome. (simple, huh?) Okay, I’ll give you more: Bryant becomes the deep threat that we lost after Chris Henry died, he takes pressure off of Chad Ochocinco and other receivers and makes the passing game the juggernaut it once was, and there are no off-field issues or injuries.

It’s way too early to condemn or praise this signing. I would have liked to have signed Marshall because he’s way more proven, but then we would’ve given up a first round pick. Granted, I think giving up a first round pick for Marshall would have been easily worth it, but a good team really builds through the draft rather than free agency. With Bryant, the Bengals are taking a little bit more risk, but they get to keep their first round draft pick, AND it lessens the pressure to reach for a receiver in the first round. Basically, it gives the Bengals more breathing room to draft the best player — regardless of position — at number 21.

I know, I know, most people say that we should draft a tight end at no. 21, but I don’t know if that’s a foregone conclusion. If there is some stud offensive guard or defensive tackle, I’d say go for it. Tight end is still a huge position of need, but you gotta go for the best player available. Look at the Reds: They drafted Yonder Alonso, a first baseman, after they saw that Joey Votto was going to be a franchise player. Just because the kid can hit (of course now they’re looking for him to play a new position, but that’s another story).

What scares me a little bit is that we just resigned Dan Coats, who was flat out awful in the passing game. Way too many drops. But he can block okay and I don’t mind if we keep him for that purpose. But we do need someone who can catch and we have that in Chase Coffman, but we could use some more talent in there.

Overall, the Bengals took a slight chance with signing Bryant vs. trading a first round pick for the better prospect of Brandon Marshall. But the Bengals get to keep their first round pick, have a less-proven-but-potentially-very-good receiver, AND we don’t have to worry (too much, it still could happen, but I would highly doubt it) about having the T.O. circus come to town.

Team/Player Photos: Cincinnati Bengals Team / Player Photos on Jul 23, 2010

In addition to signing Bryant, the Bengals have also resigned defensive tackle Tank Johnson, which makes me happy and all warm inside because we should still have a good defense next year.

So the Bryant signing is a calculated risk, and it’s the one with the highest potential ceiling, but it could also bite us in the ass. Time will tell if it pans out.