News

Updated: 8:55 p.m.

If you’re going by Marvin Lewis, look for a Reggie Kelly signing soon.

Lewis said in his Tuesday news conference after the first on-field workout of the season that he talks to Kelly every day and he usually gets his man.

"Hopefully it gets worked out in pretty short order," Lewis said.

The last time Lewis said he’d been talking to someone was 10 days ago and it was the agent for cornerback Adam Jones.

And who was sitting next to Lewis on Tuesday to start it off?

Kelly is also optimistic. He said Tuesday night he's had "great dialouge" with Lewis and he's hoping it gets finished off in time to be here next week but there is nothing done yet. 

» Lewis talked up that other DB signing, safety Gibril Wilson, a guy with 80 starts whose brains and experience have Lewis “really excited,” and he said it was too bad he was lost in the Jones onslaught.

“If he was signed the first day of free agency, you would have been all over it,” Lewis said.

» Wilson, who arrived late Monday afternoon, said he felt extremely comfortable on the field because he was playing strong safety and because it was basically the same defense he had with the Giants two years ago.

“I need to be around the ball,” said Wilson, who played free safety in Miami last season.

» Starting free safety Chris Crocker, coming off arthroscopic ankle surgery to repair a tendon, says he can get on the field fairly soon and that it feels “great.”

» Chinedum Ndukwe took his snaps next to Roy Williams.

» As if to underscore the need for safety depth, also not out there Tuesday was Tom Nelson (ankle), still trying to come back from his December injury.

» The Bengals go back to a regular lifting day Wednesday before going back out on the field Thursday. Next week they’ll be on the field Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday when the linemen and most of the rookies join them. Both offensive and defensive lines worked on their own Tuesday.

» Wide receivers Matt Jones and Jerome Simpson caught a long ball each and running back Bernard Scott made a nice touchdown catch in a one-on-one coverage drill against middle linebacker Abdul Hodge off quarterback Carson Palmer’s 25-yard floater.

» Palmer, who played the last 13.5 games with a torn ligament in his left thumb, has recovered nicely from postseason surgery. He says it is 100 percent, it is nice to be playing with two hands again and, yes, he says it should make the play-action game smoother.

» Wide receiver Chad Ochocinco is getting down to crunch time on ABC's Dancing With The Stars. He and Cheryl Burke are in the Final Four despite the fact they were sentenced to the Bottom Two for the first time this season Tuesday. Niecy Nash and Louis Van Amstel ended up getting bounced and while The Ocho is the underdog heading into Monday night, he has made it to the  next-to-last show.