Via his Twitter page, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the Bengals have contemplated pursuing restricted free agent Brandon Marshall, although no visit has been arranged yet.

Despite that report, Bengals’ beat writer Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes that the rumors on Marshall to the Bengals are mostly a smoke screen meant to drive up the price for the Seahawks, who hosted Marshall over the weekend.

Not to discredit Reedy’s reporting, but why would the Bengals want to drive up the price for the Seahawks? Seattle plays in a completely different conference than Cincinnati and one would think that the Bengals would be concentrating on signing their own free agents instead of faking interest in Marshall just to tease the Seahawks. But who knows at this point.

Schefter also writes that his ESPN collegue Mike Tirico recently bumped into Marshall in Denver and the receiver said the visit to Seattle was “great.� Marshall apparently also told Tirico that he is still very open to saying in Denver.

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Things could be heating up on the Brandon Marshall trade front. Here’s what we know so far:

- On Saturday, Marshall was reportedly in Seattle doing a meet-and-greet with the Seahawks. While they didn’t sign the restricted free agent to an offer sheet, the Seattle Times speculates that the Seahawks would send the No. 6 overall pick in April’s draft to the Broncos for Marshall.

If that sounds far-fetched, it’s probably because it is. In fact, ESPN NFC West beat writer Mike Sando says that he would be shocked if the Hawks parted with their top pick, although that doesn’t mean the two sides can’t work out another trade if Marshall is signed to an offer sheet.

- Mike Lombardi of the National Football Post writes that the Seahawks could have competition for Marshall shortly, although he doesn’t say which teams could be interested. The very reliable Rotoworld.com speculates that the Patriots, Falcons and Bengals make sense.

Out of the three teams Rotoworld mentions, I think the Patriots and Bengals do make sense, although I highly doubt the Falcons would join the party. While they would love to add another big time playmaker opposite Roddy White, I doubt they’ll part with their first round pick (19th overall) to address the offensive side of the ball with holes at outside linebacker and defensive end. GM Thomas Dimitroff would like to continue his rebuilding project on defense and it makes it harder for him to do that without a first round pick. I think Dunta Robinson was the only big splash the Falcons will make this offseason.

We’ll monitor this situation next week and see if a) the Seahawks eventually sign Marshall to an offer sheet and/or b) another team joins the race.

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