The decisions on how to replace injured center Kyle Cook have begun. On Wednesday, Cincinnati signed 10-year veteran Jeff Faine (6-3, 291) off the street as relief for the position. Whether this relief will be temporary or permanent is yet to be seen but the Bengals won't enter the year with a combined three career starts manning their three interior line positions.
Faine was released by Tampa Bay earlier this year and remained unsigned despite his 117 career starts the 2003-first-round pick accrued. He started 15 games last season for a Bucs team that ranked 11th in the NFL in sacks allowed per passing play.
Once Cook went down with an injury that could keep him out for the year, the move made sense.
With rookie Kevin Zeitler set to make his first career start on Monday Night Football in Baltimore and Clint Boling making his first start since being relieved of his duties in Week 4 last year, a veteran on the line was necessary to calm and direct the line from the middle.
Most importantly, Faine's a great fit for the Bengals because he worked in a system similiar to that of Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden while in Tampa. With 12 days to pick up as much of the system as possible, Faine can fill in with limited teaching necessary.
"Anytime you have an opportunity to work with a guy who knows what you do, knows you and has some experience playing in these kind of situations it's usually in your favor if that person is up to it," Lewis said, also pointing out a new addition is far from a slam dunk just because he owns some familiarity with Gruden's West Coast concepts. "It's different because the line calls and things like that get to be different. We had to reconstruct things anyway this year from scratch."
With rounds of cuts and trade possibilities still lingering between now and Sept. 10, there are no assurances Faine will be the man in the opener, but he's the clubhouse leader. At 31 years old he becomes the oldest offensive starter on the team and second-oldest offensive player behind only Donald Lee.
Follow Paul Dehner Jr. for Bengals updates on Twitter at @CBSSportsNFLCIN.