CINCINNATI -- Former New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons linebacker Michael Boley is heading to Cincinnati for a tryout with the Bengals, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Monday.

With the Bengals in need of an outside linebacker due to injury woes that popped up at the end of preseason camp, the tryout makes sense.

A ninth-year player out of Southern Mississippi, Boley spent the last four seasons in New York before battling an off-field legal matter this offseason. He was charged with child abuse in May, marking the second time in two years that he had incurred such a charge. While playing for the Falcons, Boley also was arrested on domestic violence charges in 2008 for allegedly beating his wife. Even though the prosecutor didn't pursue those charges, he was suspended from the first game of the following season for violating the NFL's player conduct policy.

Boley played in all 16 of the Giants' games last season, starting in 11 of them. He had 64 total tackles and three interceptions in those games. He also deflected four passes and recovered two fumbles.

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis tried to laugh off a question during his Monday afternoon news conference that referenced a potential roster tweak in the coming days that might include Boley's addition.

"You guys and your reports," Lewis said, laughing, before adding, "you're correct in everything you said, but we'll see what happens."

This is the second time in as many weeks Cincinnati has tried out a player at the position. Last week, Thomas Howard and Tyrone McKenzie were tested at outside linebacker as the Bengals tried to shore up their depth following Emmanuel Lamur's season-ending injury that occurred in the preseason finale.

After being forced to use a pair of timeouts on the same fourth-quarter drive in Sunday's season opening loss to Chicago, the Bengals are looking for a solution to shifting in personnel at the Will and Nickel linebacker positions. Simple miscommunication was said to be the culprit in the use of the timeouts. It ended up proving costly, as Cincinnati was out of timeouts in the final eight minutes of the three-point game.