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Bengals place transition tag on LB Spikes


Courtesy of Cincinnati Bengals media relations

(Feb. 11, 2003) -- The Cincinnati Bengals designated linebacker Takeo Spikes as the team's transition player, under the terms of the NFL's Collective Bargaining Agreement. Spikes will become an unrestricted free agent on Feb. 28 if he does not reach a contract agreement with the Bengals prior to that date.

The transition player designation means that the Bengals could retain Spikes by matching any offer sheet he would sign from another team. If Spikes does not sign a new contract with the Bengals or another team, the transition tag means that his option is to play for Cincinnati in 2003 under a one-year contract, with the salary set as the average of the top 10 NFL linebackers' salaries for 2002. The last date on which Spikes can sign an offer sheet from another team is July 22.

Spikes was a first-round draft choice of the Bengals in 1998. In his five seasons with the Bengals, he has led the team in tackles four times, joining LB Jim LeClair and NT Tim Krumrie as the only Cincinnati players to be credited with as many as four team tackling titles. Krumrie won five titles, and LeClair won four. Spikes finished second on the Bengals in tackles during the only season he did not win the team crown.