CINCINNATI, July 20 -- The Cincinnati Bengals Thursday finally released disgruntled wide receiver Carl Pickens.
The move had been expected shortly after June 1 for salary cap purposes, but was delayed due to a grievance filed by the Players Association against the Bengals regarding the team's use of the franchise player tag on Pickens.
When the Bengals received confirmation from NFLPA Executive Director Gene Upshaw that the grievance had been dropped, they waived Pickens.
The NFLPA protested the use of the franchise tag on players who agreed to one-year deals before signing multi-year contracts. This allows teams to continue to use their franchise tag on a year-to-year basis when the original intention of the bargaining agreement was for the tag to last for the duration of a contract signed by the player.
The practice has been used often by many teams. The Bengals used it last year when they signed Pickens to a one-year contract to retain the franchise tag and later signed him to a five-year, $23.25 million contract.
Under terms of the settlement reached Thursday, the Bengals will have a transition player tag but not a franchise player tag in 2001. For 2002 and the following years, the Bengals' franchise tag will be restored.
Since they signed Pickens to an $8 million signing bonus, the Bengals will still take a cap hit of more than $3 million this year.
The focus of trade rumors since the Bengals selected receiver Peter Warrick in the NFL draft, Pickens was excused from minicamp and training camp with the understanding he would be traded or released. He virtually wrote his ticket out of Cincinnati when he criticized the organization for retaining coach Bruce Coslet following a 4-12 season in 1999.
Pickens had spent his entire eight-year career with the Bengals and is the team's all-time leader with 530 receptions. He caught 57 passes for 737 yards and six touchdowns last season.
