Michael Johnson has returned to the Cincinnati Bengals after agreeing to a four-year deal with the team on Sunday, multiple reports confirmed.

Johnson, who spent the first five seasons of his career with the Bengals before moving to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season, reportedly signed a deal where he could earn as much as $24 million in four years, including incentives.

Aside from the salary that he is scheduled to get from his new deal with the Bengals, Johnson will also receive $7 million from the Buccaneers this year as part of the $43.8 million deal he inked with the team last year.

The deal was also a wise move for the Bengals. They received a 2015 third-round pick from the Bucs last year as compensation for losing Johnson. With the deal, the Bengals now have both the pick in the upcoming rookie draft and their veteran defensive lineman.

In his lone season in Tampa Bay, he struggled to make an impact because of injuries, tallying just 4.0 sacks for the Bucs, but he remains thankful to his former team for giving him an opportunity last season despite the injury woes.

"I'm thankful for the Buccaneers giving me an opportunity to come down there and learn," Johnson told reporters via ESPN. "I'm going to always cherish all of the memories -- the highs and the lows. You can't appreciate the highs without the lows."

Johnson knows he failed to hit expectation last season after being bothered by a high ankle sprain. The 28-year-old said he is not making any excuses and vowed that the Bengals will get the best from him in the upcoming season.

"You can look around the league and see what happens with high ankle sprains," Johnson said via the team's official website. "It was tough. I tried to battle through it. I wanted to go back and show them up what I had, but it didn't happen. Cincinnati is going to get the best season of my career."

Aside from the Bengals, Johnson reportedly talked to the Minnesota Vikings about a possible deal. Vikings coach Mike Zimmer was a former Bengals defensive coordinator and is familiar with Johnson, but the free agent defensive end opted to return to Cincinnati -- the place he considers his second home, next to Selma.

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