There have been several reports recently stating that the Pittsburgh Steelers have some level of interest in possibly signing Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent in roughly 24 hours from now. While those reports might just be true, it sounds like the Steelers will have to pay quite a bit of money in order to sign him.
According to a Wednesday Twitter report by Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, the Bengals are focused on trying to keep Kirkpatrick in Cincinnati and apparently have “strong money” currently on the proverbial table for him.
Kirkpatrick, who was drafted in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft by the Bengals, registered 173 total tackles and 9 interceptions during his first five seasons in the league. The Alabama product also led the Bengals in penalties (24 total) in each of the last two seasons.
Should the Bengals ultimately lose Kirkpatrick to another team during the offseason, it would be a huge blow to their secondary and especially if they should ultimately decide to part ways with troubled veteran cornerback Adam Jones, who is scheduled to earn $7.5 million in 2017.
Kirkpatrick entered Wednesday as the 43rd overall free agent on the NFL.com top 101 list. Needless to say, we should know within the next 48 hours or so whether or not Kirkpatrick will continue his NFL career in Cincinnati.
