O'Donnell inks NFL deal

By Chris Forsberg - ESPN

Matt O'Donnell, the Canadian Football League draftee that skipped his team's rookie camp in order to engage in a June workout with the Boston Celtics, has inked an NFL deal the Cincinnati Bengals. From the Canadian Press:

The next phase of Matt O'Donnell's eventful off-season sports odyssey is going to take him to the NFL.

The towering 6-foot-10, 325-pound offensive lineman with the Queen's Gaels signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Bengals on Tuesday. The NFL becomes the third different professional league O'Donnell has been associated with since the end of the Canadian university football season.

O'Donnell took part in the CFL's evaluation camp in March and was selected in the second round, 15th overall, by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Canadian college draft in May. But he put his CFL aspirations on hold to instead take part in a tryout with the NBA's Boston Celtics despite having not played basketball since high school.

On Thursday, O'Donnell will trade his highcuts in for cleats and again don the pads when the Bengals open their training camp in Georgetown, Ky.

"It's been pretty hectic," O'Donnell said. "But there's also been quite a lot of time between events.

"I'm just tremendously happy to have this set in stone and know where I'm finally going now."

O'Donnell said he's open to the idea of returning to the CFL if his NFL aspirations don't pan out. It's probably a safer bet than waiting for this NBA lockout to end.