The Bengals today signed DT Tank Johnson, an unrestricted free agent who played the last two seasons for Dallas.

Johnson (6-3, 305; Washington) is a sixth-year NFL player. He played in all 16 Cowboys games last season and finished 11th on the team with 45 tackles while logging nine QB pressures and a sack. He entered the NFL in 2004 as a second-round draft choice of Chicago, and he started 10 games plus all three playoff games in 2006 as the Bears advanced to Super Bowl XLI.

“We had a promising defensive performance last season, and the addition of Tank will increase our ability to apply pressure on the football,” said Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis. “That is our focus this offseason, to step up that pressure, and Tank is a proven guy who can do that against the run and the pass.”

An effective pass rusher up the middle, Johnson has 12 sacks among his 156 career regular season tackles, and he has been credited with 2.5 additional sacks in postseason play. He has played 70 regular season games with 17 starts and five postseason games with three starts.

Johnson, who uses the first name “Tank” although his given name is Terry, is the sixth unrestricted free agent to sign with the Bengals for 2009. UFAs signing previously have been WR Laveranues Coles, HB Cedric Benson, LB Darryl Blackstock and S Chris Crocker. Coles was with the N.Y. Jets last year, while Benson, Blackstock and Crocker are players re-signed by Cincinnati.