Cincinnati Bengals were reportedly interested in cornerback Kevin Johnson

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The Bengals ended up adding three new cornerbacks this offseason.

The Cincinnati Bengals have been putting in work to improve their secondary so far this free agency.

Allowing Darqueze Dennard to leave and potentially having Dre Kirkpatrick on the cutting block, the future of the Bengals’ cornerback was relatively unknown entering the offseason.

With two former Minnesota Vikings coming to the Queen City, as well as former Titans reserve Leshaun Sims, the Bengals almost secured another top free agent cornerback in Kevin Johnson.

Sadly, Johnson will instead play Cincinnati twice in the upcoming season as he signed a one-year deal with the Bengals’ inner-state rival, the Cleveland Browns. He also saw interest from the Raiders and Broncos.

It was Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle who first reported that the Bengals have had interest in the veteran Johnson.

Former Bills and Texans corner Kevin Johnson drew interest from Raiders, Bengals, Broncos and several teams before agreeing to one-year deal with Browns with maximum value of $6 million, including incentives, per sources. Base value of $3.5 million

— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) March 19, 2020

One of the biggest turnovers the roster has seen in quite some time, the Bengals added Trae Waynes and Mackensie Alexander. They allowed B.W. Webb and Dennard to head elsewhere with the former being released the latter signing elsewhere.

As for Johnson, we don’t know if the Bengals were planning to add him over Alexander and Waynes or in addition to. The team also has William Jackson still as a top cornerback as well so there wouldn’t have been a huge need to sign all four.

Johnson would’ve been a welcome addition to the team had they signed him. He played 16 games with the Bills last season, starting just one. After four years in Houston, Johnson finally secured a solid contract following his rookie deal.

Although the Bengals lost out on Johnson, they did, as aforementioned, snag Waynes and Alexander and could even look to address the secondary again in the draft, so the upcoming NFL Draft.

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