The Cincinnati Bengals say they aren't going to pressure their quarterback of the future to make a big impact in the present.
The Bengals ended four months of negotiations by signing first-round selection David Klingler late Sunday and general manager Mike Brown said there'd be plenty of time for Klingler to show his skills."We took him for the long haul, not the short term," Brown said. "This year will be a learning experience for him. David will get a chance to be our starting quarterback at some point and we believe he can do it."
Asked if Klingler might challenge Don Hollas this year for the backup job, Brown said: "He's not at number-two now, and we'll leave it to him to prove where he should be as things go along."
Klingler joins starter Boomer Esiason, Hollas and four-year veteran Erik Wilhelm at quarterback. The Bengals aren't likely to carry four quarterbacks and they don't have to do anything about Klingler for two weeks because he is on exempt roster status, but it's likely Klingler's arrival will lead to Wilhelm's departure in today's final roster cuts.
Neither Brown, Klingler nor his agent, Leigh Steinberg, would give details of Klingler's contract, but it's believed to be worth about $7 million over four years.
That would rank him second on the team, behind Esiason's estimated $3 million per year.
Klingler, who played at the University of Houston, was the sixth overall pick in April's NFL draft. His NCAA records including most touchdown passes in one game and in one season .
"I didn't expect it would take this long," Klingler said of the negotiations. "Obviously, I'm behind. But I've been throwing in Houston to anybody who would catch it, even my wife in the front yard a couple times. And at least I had four weeks of learning the offense" in minicamps and voluntary camps.
Brown said that once all sides started talking seriously, the deal was completed in 3 to 4 days.
"The truth of the matter is, they wouldn't have been willing to accept this contract at a much earlier date and we wouldn't have been willing to pay it then," Brown said. "That's unfortunate, but it's fact."
Brown had speculated during negotiations that Klingler might want a trade, but Steinberg said, "It was never an issue. David never raised it to me and I never raised it to Mike Brown. We knew this would be a long-term marriage with David probably playing 10 or 15 years of football here, and it just made sense to take time at the beginning."