A day after becoming an unrestricted free agent, Kirkpatrick officially re-signed with the Bengals on Friday, completing a five-year deal worth $52.5 million and opportunities to reach $55 million, according to agent Brian Overstreet.
“I didn’t want to leave,” Kirkpatrick said in a press conference at Paul Brown Stadium. “… This is home. I’m old-school, like my dad. Once I’m accustomed to something, I don’t really like changing. For the most part, it’s all about building. I feel like there’s a lot of great football out there for his team. I didn’t want to run, I didn’t want to shy away because of a certain number or anything like that. It was all about my passion and love for this team and my passion and love for my coach.”
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His signing was one positive that came out of the first day of free agency for several Bengals players, after offensive linemen Andrew Whitworth and Kevin Zietler decided to leave for other organizations — the Rams and Browns, respectively.
Wide receiver Brandon LaFell , who spent his first season in Cincinnati last year, also re-signed and veteran lineman Eric Winston announced on social media Friday that he would be returning.
Kirkpatrick was Cincinnati’s first-round draft choice out of Alabama in 2012 and has appeared in 66 games in five seasons, taking over as the starting left corner in 2015 when Terence Newman departed for the Vikings. His three interceptions in 2016 were tied for the team lead, and he had a team-high 16 passes defensed in 2015.
“We’re really pleased to have Dre come back here and continue his career here and hopefully he finishes his career here in Cincinnati, but finish it with a couple championships is what he’d prefer,” Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said. “He’s been a great young talent for us. He’s worked his tail off for us, year in and year out to eventually rise to this level and now a chance to really expand himself and become one of the young leaders on the football team.”
Kirkpatrick said the playoff loss to Pittsburgh two years ago still remains in the back of his mind as his “unfinished business,” which was another motivating factor in his decision to stay.
“Watching TV and hearing people say certain things about a place where you love and have a lot of passion for, I feel like there’s a lot of work (left) undone for me,” he said. “I want to build a legacy, and last year, I felt like I started striving toward building my own legacy and why not finish it where I started?”
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Lewis said just like Kirkpatrick stepped up when others moved on, the Bengals will do the same to replace guys like Whitworth and Zietler.
He noted how Whitworth mentored Cedric Ogbuehi, who struggled in his first season as a starter but now has his feet wet.
“I know fans get nervous and it gets people, ‘Oh that guy is coming or going’ and so forth, but unfortunately, or fortunately, it is a play for pay system and we have to continue to do a great job of drafting, developing our young talent and we can’t keep them all in the fold at some point,” Lewis said. “Guys look for an opportunity to play, they look for more opportunity for this or that, whatever it may be, but we’re fortunate enough the people upstairs have done a great job in continuing on with as many of our guys that we can.
“Dre, all these guys, they all jump through the same hoops to get here. We have to have them jump every day and continue to move forward, and now we’re going to have another evolution of players. We have a couple guys that have chosen to go elsewhere. We have two or three young guys that we have drafted over these years to put into those spots. They went through the same process to get here, and we feel the same way about them as we brought them here, and now it’s their time to shine.”
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