Michael Johnson entered the league as a third-round pick of the Bengals in 2009. Following a successful five-year tenure with the franchise, the defensive end inked a five-year contract worth nearly $44MM with the Buccaneers last offseason.
Tampa Bay decided to part ways with the 28-year-old earlier this week, and a reunion with Cincinnati seemed logical. Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com says Johnson is still very close with some of his former teammates, and the writer focuses on a quote by the former Bengal in November.
“They’re my brothers and going to work with them every day, it was fun. It didn’t feel like a job,” Johnson said. “We had fun every day, especially on Sundays. We had a special group there and I’ll always have very fond memories of our time there.”
More on the former Georgia Tech standout…
- As expected, Johnson is choosing between the Bengals and the Vikings, tweets ESPN.com’s Ben Goessling.
- Johnson had a “very good visit” with the Vikings, according to Mark Craig of the Star Tribune (via Twitter). The defensive end spent the night in Minnesota, which Craig says is a good sign for the organization.
- However, Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press says nothing can be “deduced” from Johnson’s prolonged stay in Minnesota (on Twitter). The writer notes that it’s been the player’s plan all along to stay in Minnesota until Saturday.
- Despite a successful meeting, Goessling warns (on Twitter) that Johnson will probably leave Minnesota today without a contract.