Bengals Xtra is a weekly column from Enquirer beat writer Paul Dehner Jr. analyzing developments off the field surrounding Bengals football, taking you inside the front office and locker room.

B.W. Webb is a journeyman joining his eighth team in seven years. Darqueze Dennard was a former first-round pick and Jim Thorpe Award winner making his first foray into free agency from a team that preaches draft-develop-retain.

Knowing this basic fact pattern, how does one explain that Webb will be slated to start in the slot this year for the Bengals and Dennard almost certainly moving on to a new team?

It comes down to the unpredictable underbelly of free agency.

Sources indicate Dennard's camp dropped an offer on the table to the Bengals north of $10 million per year then never re-engaged with the Cincinnati front office. The Bengals brass didn't budge and have made clear they viewed him at slot cornerback value since these conversations began last year.

The top of the market for the slot position was reset during free agency around $9 million per season.

Just the latest round of the Bengals organization indicating they didn't see Dennard at the same level he sees himself. He's never been given an opportunity to start at outside corner since the Bengals drafted him with a specialty in that coming out of Michigan State. Instead, Kirkpatrick, Adam Jones and even Terence Newman stood in his path.

Meanwhile, with no conversations happening, the Bengals began entertaining their alternatives. With a new coaching staff, a new familiarity comes into play. Enter Webb.

He did bounce around the league for six seasons, but found stability and a home last year in New York while playing for new Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, then Giants DB coach.

That home was in the slot. For the first time since his rookie season, he took significant snaps inside. When there, he showed extremely well for Arunumo. Undoubtedly, better than anybody could have expected of a pickup with his background in the league.

In the four years prior he took 67 snaps in the slot. Last year he totaled 266. He may have stumbled into his niche.

Turn attention back to Dennard.

His familiarity comes with teammates Dre Kirkpatrick and William Jackson III. His numbers in coverage are similar to those of Webb overall, but let's compare just slot coverage last year, via Pro Football Focus.

Rank out of 50 qualifiers: Webb -- Dennard

Snaps per target: 2nd -- 20th

Snaps per reception: 1st -- 28th

Yards per snap: 22nd -- 27th

Completion percentage: 73 percent -- 75 percent

Webb earns the advantage in all coverage categories, granted, his production came in a smaller sample size.

Also, Dennard's strength comes in tackling and instincts working in the middle. He's shown a knack for attacking in the run game and sniffing out the quick passing game.

Let's compare the two in the area of tackling. These numbers are derived from all snaps, not just in the slot.

Rank out of 70 qualifiers: Webb -- Dennard

Tackling efficiency (tackles per miss): 16th -- 8th

Snaps per stop (tackle for offensive failure): 31st - 5th

If only going by last year's statistics, you have performances that metrics indicate are similar with differing strengths. Webb, 29, is two years older than Dennard, 27, and the uncertainty that comes from being with seven different teams and a new one every year is impossible to ignore.

Yet, the Bengals didn't want to be left without any so feeling Dennard wouldn't be coming off a desire to be paid like an outside corner they inked Webb and hope he can replicate what he did in 266 slot snaps for Anarumo last year.

Webb is a risk and player they hope they found coming off the a-ha moment of his wandering career. He's also at three years and $10.5 million base with just $2.5 million guaranteed and easy outs on the back end.

Webb coming in at one-third the price of where Dennard and other slot corners were valued made even more sense to go ahead and pull the trigger.

Sources indicate the Bengals haven't officially closed the door to a Dennard return, but the reality is they now live in a different financial world than a few days ago with the recent signings Preston Brown, Webb, guard John Miller and Tyler Eifert.

Dennard has turned attention elsewhere. He visited the Kansas City Chiefs this weekend after they couldn't lure CB Ronald Darby out of Philadelphia.

If Dennard can't find a home to his situational liking, he may need to re-evaluate and a return could be back on the table. Considering how this has gone and the arrival of Webb, that would be tough to imagine.

Another addition at cornerback will likely come in the draft and join 2018 fifth-round picks Darius Phillips and Davontae Harris at the forefront of the cornerback room.

There's never a predictable path when it comes to free agency and the Bengals at slot corner followed suit.