WR Coles is free agent again after one season with Bengals

32-year-old wide receiver Laveranues Coles becomes free agent again after failing to play as a pillar role in the passing game of the Cincinnati Bengals, who released Coles on the eve of March 5 deadline for free agency, along with three tight ends.

Coles signed a four-year deal with the Bengals last year to replace T.J. Houshmandzadeh but did not satisfy the team with only 43 catches for 514 yards last season. Houshmandzadeh was the Bengals’ most reliable receiver and top third-down target, making catches in a crowd but he left for the Seattle Seahawks and the Bengals had to move quickly to get receiver as good as him. They picked Coles just one week after he took off the New York Jets jersey because the Jets refused to offer him a long-term contract extension. However, he turned out a big disappointment in the Bengals’ passing game and never blended into an offense that became reliant on the run. Having two or fewer catches in nine regular-season games, he was still expected by the Bengals to become a bigger part of the offense after Chris Henry got hurt and later died in a fall from a truck, but he just continued disappointing the team with only 16 pass catches combined in the last seven regular-season games.

After releasing Coles, the Bengals now have only Chad Ochocinco the only proven wide receiver. They have three other reserves including Andre Caldwell, Jerome Simpson and Matt Jones, but Caldwell also struggled in his second season, Simpson appeared in only two games last season and Jones did not play at all. The Bengals can remain hopeful that they would do better in 2010 season but they can also acquire better help from the free-agent market and the draft.