The Bengals announced the signing of Derrick Harvey on Friday and they closed out the day by adding another former eighth overall pick in the draft.
Like Harvey, Jamaal Anderson is a defensive end and, like Harvey again, he hasn’t lived up to his lofty draft status. Anderson, who did what all the kids are doing these days by announcing his signing via Twitter, started 34 games for the Falcons in his first three seasons, but notched just 2.5 sacks in Atlanta. He did get two sacks in a reserve role in 2010 and upped his career high to three sacks as a rotational player for the Colts last season. He’s not a bad run defender, though, and he showed some versatility by playing some defensive tackle in Indy.
Harvey and Anderson will likely take the places of Frostee Rucker and Jonathan Fanene in the Bengals’ defensive line rotation. They haven’t been as productive as Rucker and Fanene during their careers, but perhaps they are just late bloomers who will live up to their draft status now that they are in Cincinnati.
If they do, Mike Zimmer will likely get a few more head coaching interviews come early 2013.
