Preston Brown leaving Bills to sign with Bengals

The Cincinnati Bengals are signing former Buffalo Bills linebacker Preston Brown to a one-year deal, a source confirmed to ESPN.

NewYorkUpstate.com first reported the signing.

Brown finished this past season with 144 tackles, tied with Green Bay Packers linebacker Blake Martinez and Cleveland Browns linebacker Joe Schobert for the most in the NFL.

Pro Football Focus rated Brown as the NFL's 42nd-best linebacker in 2017.

He tweeted a farewell to Buffalo on Friday.

The Bengals didn't have much room left in their available salary-cap projections after re-signing tight end Tyler Eifert and trading for Bills left tackle Cordy Glenn, but Brown fits the mold they've been targeting in free-agent linebackers the last few years. Karlos Dansby and Kevin Minter also signed for one-year deals. It didn't appear the Bengals would re-sign Minter after injuries limited him to only nine games last season, leaving them with a hole at middle linebacker.

The Bengals favor players with durability, and Brown, a Cincinnati native, has shown versatility by playing both inside and outside linebacker in a 4-3 scheme as well as inside linebacker in a 3-4 scheme.

Brown, 25, has not missed a game since being selected by the Bills in the third round of the 2014 draft, starting 62 of the 64 games in which he has played.

He has played at least 98 percent of defensive snaps for the Bills in each of the past three seasons, and 93 percent in 2014. He has worn the Bills' radio helmet to receive play calls from three different defensive coordinators since his rookie season.

ESPN's Katherine Terrell contributed to this report.