According to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com, free agent Nate Clements has been signed or will soon sign with the San Francisco 49ers. The report comes from Thomas Sorrell, a writer for RealFootball365.
Email from Geoff Hobson:
Clements is gone to san fran for $23 M to sign - a deal the Bengals could have done if they cut the few guys who do play defense.
If this is true, the 49ers will likely make the announcement later today.
Update [12:05pm]:
John Clayton of ESPN is now reporting that the 49ers are close to signing Clements and could get the deal done today.
Update [11:50pm]:
A representative of Clement said "that there is no deal in place with the 49ers, or any team for that matter, and that no deal is imminent. His office called the reports 'false and very untrue.'"
Update [10:20am]:
With the number of people now linking to this article, we have decided to mark this article as a rumor for now as nothing has been made official by the press or by the San Francisco 49ers yet. The only source so far is an email from Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com.
Matt Maiocco stated this morning that "The 49ers will not sign anyone until he has passed a physical." However, he has made no comments yet on Clements or Adalius Thomas other than "The 49ers have huge interest in both LB Adalius Thomas and CB Nate Clements."
Interest in Tully Banta-Cain
Maiocco also said the following in his blog this morning:
The 49ers have talked to Tully Banta-Cain's agent, Jim Sims, but no visit has been scheduled. Banta-Cain is traveling today to visit with a team that Sims declined to identify.