What happened?

Many fans were encouraged Friday that even though the Bengals lost Madieu Williams to the Vikings and Justin Smith to the Niners they had traded for defensive tackle Shaun Rogers of the Lions. But the deal somehow fell through and the Browns ended up getting Rogers.

So what went wrong? I thought for sure after I got a "Bengals trade for Shaun Rogers" breaking news e-mail from Cincinnati.Com as I was leaving work Friday that we had a new DT. We might never know the whole truth. Some say the NFL may have stepped in because the trade violated a salary-cap rule. Others believe the trade wasn't reported to the league office after it went down right before 4 p.m., considered the end of the NFL day, leaving the Lions free to negotiate a deal with another team. And the Lions apparently preferred to get a player instead of picks in return for Rogers all along (which they got - CB Leigh Bodden - from the Browns). There also may have been faulty language in the trade that forced the NFL to void it.

The Detroit News said:

The sticking point with Cincinnati was the $1 million bonus Rogers was due if he was on the roster at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

A person involved in the trade negotiations said the Bengals wanted language in the agreement that would require the Lions to pay the roster bonus if Rogers failed his physical. It amounted to insurance for the Bengals, and the Lions refused.

There wasn't time for Rogers to take a physical before the roster-bonus deadline. The Lions ran the risk of losing the $1 million -- which would count against this year's salary cap of $116 million -- regardless if they kept Rogers or traded him to another team.

Freep.com (Detroit Free Press) seems to think Rogers himself may have had more to do with it than you think, even after he met with Bengals and declared he was excited to be coming here and he'd be a good fit, etc. One thing is certain: There's plenty of speculation about why it didn't happen.

But there may be a silver lining in all of this. ESPN.com is reporting the Bengals may be on the verge of dealing with the Jets for former University of Kentucky star Dewayne Robertson. I heard Geoff Hobson say they just need to figure out a contract and it could be a done deal. Might not be such a bad thing. Everyone has their own opinion as far as whether Rogers or Robertson is more talented, but the consensus is with Robertson you don't have to worry about his attitude or work ethic, he doesn't have the checkered past Rogers has and weight isn't going to be a problem (Rogers is reportedly going about 380 these days; Robertson is a more manageable 305 or 310).

And free agent Antwan Odom of the Titans is visiting with the Bengals as well as the Cardinals, which means we might have a new DT and DE if we play our cards right. And with Robertson, there's a strong chance the Bengals would switch from a 3-4 to a 4-3. So it could definitely change who we were thinking about drafting.

Check out the update of who the mock drafts have the Bengals taking.