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Hoping to add a promising young interior lineman, and to double their pleasure by pirating him away from a division rival, the Cleveland Browns on Friday evening signed Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Shaun Smith to a restricted free agent offer sheet, sources confirmed to ESPN.com.

Shaun Smith

Defensive Tackle Cincinnati Bengals Profile

2006 SEASON STATISTICS Tot Solo Ast FF Sack Int 10 6 4 0 0 0

Details of the offer sheet were not immediately available, nor was it known if the Bengals have yet received the paperwork involved in the transaction. Once the offer sheet is officially executed, Cincinnati will have seven days in which to match the offer sheet or pass on it.

Should the Bengals match it, they will assume the terms of the deal the Browns negotiated with Smith, a three-year veteran. If Cincinnati does not match the offer sheet, Smith will move on to the Browns. But because Smith entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent, and Cincinnati made him the lowest qualifying offer for a restricted free agent, the Bengals would receive no compensation if he departed under the offer sheet.

Smith, 25, is a squat, powerfully built defender who would likely challenge for the starting nose tackle job in Cleveland's 3-4 front.

His numbers will never be very impressive, as evidenced by just 74 tackles and no sacks in 34 games, but the 325-pound Smith will eat up blockers inside and allow the linebackers to flow to the football.

Smith's best season came in 2005, when he compiled 38 tackles in 13 games, and logged five starts. He fell out of favor with Bengals' coaches late in 2006, and did not play in the final three games of the campaign, but several teams looking to add a young lineman with promise considered him a potential steal.

Because of the depth they have accumulated at tackle, and the fact they already have some emerging young players at the position, the Bengals may elect to not match the offer sheet.

Of course, adding to the intrigue of the offer sheet is the fact that the Bengals and Browns are division rivals who play in the same state. Last week, the Browns signed unrestricted free agent offensive guard Eric Steinbach, one of the best players available at any position, to a lucrative contract.

Securing the services of restricted free agents historically has proven a difficult undertaking with the current system. In the 14 previous years of free agency, only 55 restricted free agents changed teams. Four restricted free agents changed teams in 2006.

So far this year, one restricted free agent, wide receiver Wes Welker, has switched teams. But that move, with Welker going from Miami to New England, came after the Patriots signed him to an offer sheet, and then the two teams subsequently agreed to a trade.

The Pittsburgh Steelers earlier this week signed San Francisco punter Andy Lee to a restricted free agent offer sheet, but the 49ers quickly matched it.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.