Next men up

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Hours before Tuesday’s free-agency deadline of 4 p.m., ESPN reported Tampa Bay had reached a five-year, $43.75 million deal with Bengals right end Michael Johnson.

Now the Bengals start exploring life without Johnson and the options start with two guys that have a combined 41.5 sacks in 84 games with the Bengals as they try to replace a solid three-down player that routinely played 90 percent of the snaps.

Wallace Gilberry, who has 14 sacks in his 30 games as a Bengal, said Tuesday he’s ready “to take the torch” as a starter at right end after six seasons as a backup. Another option they’ll probably study is moving left endCarlos Dunlap, the Bengals’ co-sack leader with Gilberry last year at 7.5, to right end and installingRobert Geathers back at the left end spot where he has made 71 starts since 2008 while performing solidly against the run.

Also in the rotation at end in what new defensive coordinator Paul Guenther has promised to be multiple combinations is 2013 second-rounder Margus Hunt. Dunlap, with with 27.5 sacks in 54 games, has rushed mainly from the left side while Johnson, 26.5 in 79 has pretty much stayed on the right.

Like everyone in Bengaldom Tuesday, Gilberry mourned the loss of what Johnson brought to the team on and off the field. Whether it was batting down a pass in the heat of a rollicking fourth quarter or sponsoring computer classes for the unemployed in his hometown of Selma, Ala., he did it with class and desire.

But Gilberry also compared it to the loss of two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Geno Atkins halfway through last season on a defense that finished third in the NFL.  

“He came to work every day with a passion and effort that elevated the play of me and the other guys around him. If that deal goes through in Tampa they’re getting a heck of a player and person,” Gilberry said. “It’s just like when we lost Geno. A lot of people expected the D-line not to hold together and it’s the same situation here. Mike is one of the great players at his position, but we have the guys, myself included, that can step in and pick up the slack.”

After missing all but two games last season with a shoulder injury, Geathers, Dean of the Bengals with 136 games, says he’s ready for the start of offseason workouts April 21.

With Geathers turning 31 in training camp, the 275-pound Gilberry doing his work in 520 snaps, and Hunt taking just 165 plays as a rookie, they’re probably looking at a rotation of all three in place of Johnson. But Gilberry says he’s not too small to play on run downs.

“They’ve been saying that ever since I came into the league. But the numbers speak for themselves. I think my teammates and coaches have confidence in me,” Gilberry said. “It’s been six years of being a backup. That’s getting old. I want to take the next snap.”

Gilberry said the D-line – tackles included – is sending group texts and it won’t stop now.

“We’re all out there training. We’re ready. Mike was sending them. He’s ready,” Gilberry said. “We’re happy for him. The brotherhood remains. He’s just in another color. The show must go on, but I don’t think we’ll (miss a beat). Robert, Carlos, me, Margus. We’re all capable of doing the job no matter who says we’re not. We understand it.”

In 30 games with the Bengals since he signed early in the 2012 season, Gilberry has 14 of his 28 career sacks and last year according to profootballfocus.com he ranked 12th in the NFL in pass rushing productivity on his 191 pass-rush snaps from the right side in a formula based on sacks, hits, and hurries.

Johnson finished 22nd, according PFF, with the difference he rushed 509 times from the right side. But Gilberry also rushed 158 times from the left and finished 16th in PRP.

“Who knows what they’re going to do?” Gilberry asked. That’s not in our control. I’m going to make sure I’m in shape and if I have to carry the load I’m going to make sure I’m ready to do that.”

A source close to Johnson said the Bengals made it interesting at the late hour (figure five years at about  $7 million per), but the Bucs apparently hit way over the number.

Two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Geno Atkins counts more than $10 million against this year’s salary cap, Dunlap is working on an extension that averages eight million, and three lineman average at least $5 million per year, so the Bengals were hard pressed to repeat last year when they had the highest-paid defense in the NFL. With two-time Pro Bowl wide receiver A.J Green and quarterback Andy Dalton looking at huge numbers heading into their contract years, at some point the Bengals apparently felt they had to leave some room for offense.

Plus, Pro Bowl linebacker Vontaze Burfict and defensive tackle Domata Peko are also headed into their contract years after they re-signed Geathers and Gilberry and drafted Hunt all last offseason.

Johnson won’t be lining up next to Atkins in Tampa, but Gerald McCoy is an excellent inside rusher with 18 sacks in four seasons. The plan looks to be to switch Adrian Clayborn, another young end with 13.5 sacks in 35 games, from right to left.

How good was that 2009 Bengals draft? Johnson, a third-round pick, was joined Tuesday on the Tampa line by seventh-rounder Clinton McDonald, a defensive tackle the Bengalls traded to Seattle before the 2011 season who became a first-day free agent.

 

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