Veteran OL Nick Easton to visit Bengals, Texans

Nick Easton's market is starting to heat up it seems. The veteran offensive lineman was cut by the Saints about six weeks ago, and not too long after we heard that he’d already been in touch with four teams.

Things went quiet after that though, until now. Easton has “possible visits” with the Bengals and Texans in the coming days, a source told Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Fowler notes that the Saints have also expressed interest in bringing him back “if they can make it work cap-wise.” That tracks with what we heard back in February, as the Saints cut him in part due to their complicated maneuvering to get under the cap.

Easton entered the league as an undrafted free agent in 2015 and became a part-time starter with the Vikings in 2016. He became a full-time starter in 2017, showed well and after missing the entire 2018 season due to injury signed a four-year, $24M pact with the Saints in 2019.

He made it just two years into that deal and started nine games for New Orleans last year. He’s still only 28 and with his NFL experience at both center and guard would make for a solid late signing for teams in need of interior line help. The Bengals are looking to completely remake Joe Burrow's protection for 2021 and recently added fellow former Viking Riley Reiff to start at right tackle.