The Bengals are engaged in negotiations with CB Leon Hall and OT Andrew Whitworth on contract extensions, according to league sources. The team is exchanging proposals with both players and hopes to secure both to new deals before the start of the regular season in two weeks. Hall would be the top candidate for a franchise tag if the sides can’t reach a deal by the end of the 2011 season. The Bengals lost CB Johnathan Joseph — who started opposite Hall — in free agency during the offseason and face the prospect of spending up to 90 percent of the league’s new salary cap in actual payroll in the near future. Whitworth has emerged as a top tackle and already had his contract re-worked in the past, but he remains one of the best bargains in the game. Source: NFL.com
