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LONG HOLDOUT SLIM


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[quote][size=3][b]LONG HOLDOUT SLIM[/b][/size]


As of Thursday afternoon, not only had there been no first-round picks signed in the NFL but no second-rounders. So Doug Hendrickson isn't nervous.

Hendrickson, out of the Octagon agency, is Leon Hall's agent and Thursday from the Bay Area he said he's not concerned about getting a deal for Hall in time for the first practice of training camp on July 27.

He has yet to speak to Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn, the club's traditional negotiator for the top draft pick, but he has touched base with head coach Marvin Lewis in preparation for dealing with the 18th contract in the draft.

“We don't expect a hiccup,” Hendrickson said. “We've done deals with them in the past and Marvin's always great. I don't expect to start talking until after the Fourth, if even then.”

The Octagon football division, headed by the highly regarded Mike Sullivan, isn't known for messy first-round holdouts. The only extended one of note appears to be another cornerback, the Chargers' Quentin Jammer, with the fifth pick in 2002.

The Bengals would have to be happy if they could repeat what Hendrickson did with the Rams last year on another corner drafted in about Hall's spot. Tye Hill, the 15th pick, missed only the first day but he was on time for the first workout of the entire team.

It is going to get busy for Hendrickson soon because he also represents running back Marshawn Lynch at No. 12. But he'll also be doing the deal with Sullivan.

“Usually the big things in these deals are the length and this is pretty cut and dried,” Hendrickson said. “The top half of the round is going to get six years and the next five, so we know right away we're starting with a five-year deal.”

Sullivan and the Bengals had some dicey dealings of their own in 2002 when he represented the second-rounder, safety Lamont Thompson, and Thompson chose not to participate in the spring camps because the Bengals wouldn't sign an injury waiver guaranteeing money if he got hurt before he signed a contract.

But Hendrickson said the Bengals changed their policy shortly after that season, and Hall participated in every session this year. Plus, Thompson, released when Lewis arrived the next season, signed his deal on the eve of camp and wasn't a holdout.

“We've got a pretty good history with some very good cornerbacks,” Hendrickson said of a firm that just this week completed the Bears' Nathan Vasher's lucrative extension. “Leon has told us he wants to be in on time and that's what our plan is.”[/quote]



[url="http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=6112"]http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=6112[/url]
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