“I’m just glad to be in Cincy finally,” Burkhead said last weekend while competing in the team’s rookie minicamp at Paul Brown Stadium.
“It’s been a long process,” he continued. “I’m finally getting on the field and starting to compete and practice and learn the playbook. There are lots of things to improve upon. I feel there’s a bunch of things I can get better at. But that’s why we get these practices.”
Burkhead was limited by injury to only eight games last year as a senior, but he averaged 6.9 yards per rush and he closed his career ranked fifth on Nebraska’s all-time rushing list with 3329 yards.
Porter started 39 games over his final three seasons and finished his Aggies career with 261 tackles, 14.5 sacks and 34.5 tackles-for-loss.
They join sixth-round wide receiver Cobi Hamilton (6-2, 212, Arkansas) and seventh-rounders Reid Fragel (offensive tackle, 6-8, 308, Ohio State) and T.J. Johnson (center, 6-4, 310, South Carolina) as draft picks in the fold.
The Bengals also elevated Terrence Stephens from tryout stats to college free agent after the 6-1, 307-pound defensive tackle from Stanford impressed coaches at last weekend’s rookie mini camp.
Rookie defensive tackle Travis Chappelear of Northwest Missouri State was waived after joining the team as a CFA on April 30.
The new CBA that ended the lockout in 2011 makes it easier for teams to sign their draft picks due to uniform base salaries and standard four-year contract lengths, and Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said he expects the five picks who remain unsigned to be under contract soon.
They are tight end Tyler Eifert, (first round, Notre Dame), running back Giovani Bernard (second round, North Carolina), defensive end Margus Hunt (second round, SMU), safety Shawn Williams (third round, Georgia) and offensive tackle Tanner Hawkinson (fifth round, Kansas).
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