What was at least in my opinion the Indianapolis Colts’ loss is going to be the Cincinnati Bengals’ gain; according to SportsTicker, the Bengals signed former Indianapolis Colts tight end Ben Utecht. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed at the time of this writing. A restricted free agent, Utecht joined the Bengals when the Colts failed to meet the deadline on matching Cincinnati’s offer; the Bengals had offered Utecht a three-year contract on March 14.
Because Utecht was an undrafted college free agent and was not tendered an offer by the Colts beyond draft-status level, Cincinnati was not required to compensate Indianapolis. Utecht had 31 catches for the Colts last year and 37 in 2006. I think you can expect Utecht to become the “go-to” tight end for the Bengals, while Reggie Kelly will probably be knocked down to second team status.