With Mike Nugent scratched for the balance of the year (yeah, I went with the obvious Chris Berman-style reference), the Bengals need a kicker.
On Tuesday, they signed one.
He’s Aaron Pettrey, an undrafted rookie who was cut by the Panthers in June and the Lions in August. He has no regular-season experience. But he has kicked in one preseason game.
In our view, the move is aimed at tiding the Bengals over until Wednesday afternoon, in the event that former Steelers kicker Jeff Reed clears waivers. If they had signed someone with experience and thereafter signed Reed, the Bengals would have owed a much bigger paycheck to the guy who would have been cut after only a couple of days on the roster.
Either way, we can’t imagine Pettrey kicking for the Bengals in Week 11. Our guess is that, if they don’t sign Reed, the Bengals will bring in a veteran with game experience. Regular-season game experience.
The Bengals also signed tackle Kirk Chambers, who replaces starting right tackle Andre Smith on the roster.