Welcome to the Bengals, Jermaine Gresham!

Gresham has missed only five days of training camp and eight practices, which really isn’t all that bad. I mean, compared to last year’s pick, Andre Smith, who held out for 30 days, this is hardly any time at all.

Gresahm’s signed a five-year contract worth $15.85 million ($18.5 million max) with $9.6 million guaranteed. I wish I had $9.6 million guaranteed to me, but I guess English teachers don’t get those kind of bonuses.

I really don’t get the whole signing process and holding out. It flat-out confuses me. According to one report, the Bengals spent four hours talking to Gresham’s agent last Thursday night… Discussing what, exactly? I guess I’m just naïve and ignorant about this whole process, but it doesn’t seem to be a complicated process: the Bengals make an offer, the agent says we want more, and then you meet somewhere in the middle. Does it take that long to figure it out?

Whatever. I’ll stop bitching about it.

What I will start doing, however, is imagining how awesome the Bengals offense is going to be with a pass-catching tight end in Gresham + Chad Ochocinco + Terrell Owens + Antonio Bryant = one hell of a dynamic offense. Talk about mismatch hell for the defensive coordinators out there.

Hopefully Gresham can develop as a blocker and he should easily become the starter for this year’s club.

Excitement continues to build for your Cincinnati Bengals!

You can send any questions, suggestions, or comments to David Jacob at djacob@gearupforsports.com.  You can join his facebook group, and/or follow him at  https://twitter.com/HoldenCarraway.