Rucker faces battery and vandalism charges

[ChadJohnson-85]

Still wish we had Ko >_<

Same here......

[Kazkal]

How do we know these guys aren't worth the risk. If they play a big part in Cincy winning a Super Bowl ML will be the man for taking the risk. We are only seeing one side of it, which is the bad pub. Let's see how the rookies perform on the field, before we judge the draft. This isn't flipping High School people. If the Bengals didn't have a good squad, nobody would even care. So some half-wit that writes for a rag is calling us names. Big damn deal! If we can ride a couple of felons to a Super Bowl victory, I say have at it!

not saying he wont work out just saying id take Ko over him atm

[Dadraftnick]

I have read quite a few posts that said that Dillon started out with character issues and he turned out OK.

I have to remind you that after Dillon was gone we heard about what a cancer he was to the team.

Did he stay out of jail ? Yes.

Did he play well ? Yes, for the most part, although if things weren't going his way he would just shut it down or give half effort.

The thing you have to remember is how his attitude saturated into the teams attitude,the same way Pickens' did the same thing

If you ever saw the thing on Fox Sports with Dillon he felt he was disrespected by everyone that has ever breathed HIS air.

Show me a guy that cant follow the rules of society (commiting crimes) with the penalty being jail and loss of livelyhood ect. (see Rucker,Henry,Nicholson)and I'll show you a guy that cant follow team rules,cant stay within a scheme,or go with out undermining the coach and organization.

The guys that have no character are the guys that are at their worst when you are down in a game,after a loss,and in a loosing season because they can never see their own faults they are always pointing fingers at someone else.

Just think of the pre-Marvin drought, how many of those games were lost by a TD or less quite a few.

The character guys did down deeper and play harder and do what it takes to win,the guys like Dillon are looking around to see who they can point their finger at.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

He was charged in criminal court, so unless the "whore" files a civil case she will not recieve any money. Therefore, she is not money hungry, and the timing has everything to do with the DA's office investigating and finding evidence.

Please do not blame the woman in this situation. Frosty was known to have big problems prior to ever being drafted.

Soon the Bengals can field their own team in prison.

Not necessarily, she could be forcing him to settle out of court, and then could take it to civil court if he's found innocent.

I find it curious that she waited until after he was drafted, when this took place last August.

If it happened at a party around a lot of people, then I'm sure there are witnesses also.

If the guy actually did beat on a female, I could care less what happens to him, or if he ever becomes a Bengal though.

I will "trust" Marvin and Co. did their research on him and talked to some people, and that the claims by her are $ driven, exaggerated, or false, again, if in fact it took place at a "party" around a lot of people.

[stilldiesel]

Look at it this way; at least it was not your 1st round draft choice getting arrested.

[BengalByTheBay]

I have read quite a few posts that said that Dillon started out with character issues and he turned out OK.

I have to remind you that after Dillon was gone we heard about what a cancer he was to the team.

Did he stay out of jail ? Yes.

Did he play well ? Yes, for the most part, although if things weren't going his way he would just shut it down or give half effort.

The thing you have to remember is how his attitude saturated into the teams attitude,the same way Pickens' did the same thing

If you ever saw the thing on Fox Sports with Dillon he felt he was disrespected by everyone that has ever breathed HIS air.

Show me a guy that cant follow the rules of society (commiting crimes) with the penalty being jail and loss of livelyhood ect. (see Rucker,Henry,Nicholson)and I'll show you a guy that cant follow team rules,cant stay within a scheme,or go with out undermining the coach and organization.

The guys that have no character are the guys that are at their worst when you are down in a game,after a loss,and in a loosing season because they can never see their own faults they are always pointing fingers at someone else.

Just think of the pre-Marvin drought, how many of those games were lost by a TD or less quite a few.

The character guys did down deeper and play harder and do what it takes to win,the guys like Dillon are looking around to see who they can point their finger at.

As for CD, that example was brought up in response to your claim that Frostee was not going to play and was going to jail for this. Well, consider the fact that he did this a year ago. Then consider that CD had a similar, or worse, espisode while he was a Bengal and missed no games and that gets you to my opinion that he won't miss any games because of this incident.

I'll show you a guy that can't follow the rules of society and yet can follow team rules, stay within a scheme, not undermine the coach or organization and still bring unGodly game on Sunday -- Lawrence Taylor. It's way too convenient to say that guys who have problems with the law are going to give up on the team. Only problem is that it's not necessarily true. That may be the case with some guys. It also may be that the reason some guys can't keep themselves together in society has a lot to do with why they are good at playing football on the field.

[Stripes]

Yeah, having jailed felons on the roster is a real boost to our superbowl chances!

Well the point is that our loveable felons would be staying out of jail. Being NFL players, they seem to have that power through whatever means. Players of talent that can help us get to the Superbowl even when acting like idiots in recent months need to be on the field if they can be, I think. Now, if they actually do end up in jail, it's obviously a different story. I just have my doubts.

[HairOnFire]

I feel like I've stumbled into a henhouse full of Chicken Littles. Rucker hasn't been accused of beating a woman. He's been accused of ripping her cellphone from her during an argument and then destroying it. The incident was said to have left a red area on the womans arm. Other sources claim the red area included an actual scratch. Get a grip people.

BTW, none of us are having this conversation if Chris Henry hadn't melted down.

[HoosierCat]

BTW, none of us are having this conversation if Chris Henry hadn't melted down.

Maybe. But he did. And AJ Nicholson did nothing to damp down the heat, either. And there's the rumors about Odell, which for all their unsubstantiation can't be completely dismissed since Odell has vanished.

Henry has screwed up so much in so short a span of time that he may miss some time, or even get the boot. Nicholson's and Rucker's problems look like they will blow over, albeit in an ill-smelling wind. Odell? At this point, who knows.

What bugs me is that you have a fair amount of young talent there under a legal cloud. You also have a fair amount of veteran talent on this team under a financial cloud -- Levi, Willie, Steinbach, Justin. And you have more veteran talent under an aging cloud -- Simmons, James, Adams. There's potential here for a "perfect storm" that sees multiple vets in their prime exit, and multiple aging vets decline rapidly, while potential young replacements detonate because of their own stupidity and immaturity.

I think the possibility of that is remote, but the fact that it's even a possibility at all is exasperating.

[Kazkal]

I feel like I've stumbled into a henhouse full of Chicken Littles. Rucker hasn't been accused of beating a woman. He's been accused of ripping her cellphone from her during an argument and then destroying it. The incident was said to have left a red area on the womans arm. Other sources claim the red area included an actual scratch. Get a grip people.

BTW, none of us are having this conversation if Chris Henry hadn't melted down.

hair and being reasonable

[Walrus]

I feel like I've stumbled into a henhouse full of Chicken Littles. Rucker hasn't been accused of beating a woman. He's been accused of ripping her cellphone from her during an argument and then destroying it. The incident was said to have left a red area on the womans arm. Other sources claim the red area included an actual scratch. Get a grip people.

BTW, none of us are having this conversation if Chris Henry hadn't melted down.

I only hope it's something as petty as this -- and if that's the case, then Rucker should have nothing to worry about. (And how could a guy get threatened with 3 YEARS of jail time for something like that??) Just doesn't add up. I don't know where you get that info, by the way.

But when I hear a guy is being charged with "spousal abuse" ... and he already has a history of sexual assault charges ... well, what's a Chicken Little supposed to think about that??

The things I read about Rucker when I searched around the web for more info about him after the draft are a bit odd. By most accounts, he's a funny, charismatic guy. But then I also read stuff like this that makes me wonder. Sure, this could be (probably is) a bitter UCLA fan making stuff up. That's what I've got to assume -- until something like this (latest charges) comes up and brings his character back into question. Where there's smoke...

And now, what if the Bengals didn't know about this ongoing investigation? Has Frostee been honest and open with Marvin? Did he try to hide this stuff? Has there been a breech of trust before he even got a chance to play his first snap?

Sorry for the rant. Chicken Little out.

[Jet23]

Let's see how the rookies perform on the field, before we judge the draft.

If we can ride a couple of felons to a Super Bowl victory, I say have at it!

Uh, let me lay it out for you in terms of the potential/probable immediate future for these fellows

How exactly do these guys impact the team while sitting in jail?

Oh, yeah, there's the signing bonus money we can't recoup....and the corresponding dead cap money....and then there's the pay we have to give the substitute players......and the respective cap and budget hit of that......the time wasted giving practice reps to one year fill in players rather than out own chosen players......all this at a time when we are primed for a run at the Superbowl, and may not have more than one more shot at it......not to mention that that we lost out on drafting a different talented player who is smart enough to stay out of trouble.......

Yeah, having jailed felons on the roster is a real boost to our superbowl chances!

Thanks for reminding us all of this!

Uh, let me lay it out for you mister wizard. Are you going to build the extra prisons needed to house dudes that throw cell phones against the wall? He will do no jail time, especially during the season. Heck, Henry may not even do any significant time. Man, some of you dudes sound like my wife and her friends...bitch, moan, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Man I wish the season would get here, so you would have something tangible to cry about!

[BengalByTheBay]

Man, some of you dudes sound like my wife and her friends...bitch, moan, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Man I wish the season would get here, so you would have something tangible to cry about!

I say when the season comes -- may there be nothing to cry about. You and I can enjoy a hearty high-5 in celebration of Frostee's first sack (and hopefully numerous subsequent sacks). Maybe HOF too.

This is, of course, somewhat of a lame argument anyway. FWIW - I also have the understanding that this Frostee "incident" involves him either slapping a cell phone out of his gf's hand or pushing her and causing her to fall on it so that it broke. I'm assuming that's where the odd "vandalism" part of the charges come from. Does this sound like the guy's going to prison for that? I don't think so. Of course, coming hard on the heels of the Henry-gone-wild offseason these things enjoy a little more scrutiny. In terms of importance I think that (1) Henry's in for a difficult several months -- he cannot escape suspension, but may escape doing time (if I had to make that call right now - I would go with some sort of probation and community service and no jail); (2) Nicholson seems like the next most likely to do something else really stupid so I wouldn't go giving any personal references for this guy just now. If he can make it to the season without further incident, I would bet that he'll do okay as long as he's busy playing football. (3) Frostee, based on what we seem to know right now, is no more likely to do anything stupid at this point than Justin Smith.

[HairOnFire]

I feel like I've stumbled into a henhouse full of Chicken Littles. Rucker hasn't been accused of beating a woman. He's been accused of ripping her cellphone from her during an argument and then destroying it. The incident was said to have left a red area on the womans arm. Other sources claim the red area included an actual scratch. Get a grip people.

BTW, none of us are having this conversation if Chris Henry hadn't melted down.

I only hope it's something as petty as this -- and if that's the case, then Rucker should have nothing to worry about. (And how could a guy get threatened with 3 YEARS of jail time for something like that??) Just doesn't add up. I don't know where you get that info, by the way.

But when I hear a guy is being charged with "spousal abuse" ... and he already has a history of sexual assault charges ... well, what's a Chicken Little supposed to think about that??

He's charged with spousal abuse because that's the closest description his actions fall under. But in regards to the charge itself, it's a huge umbrella and I haven't read an account yet that comes close to "beatin' the little woman". And the threat of 3 years jail time is simply the maximum anyone could get under the charge, something that most certainly isn't going to happen if his biggest crime is vandalizing a cell phone or a blackberry....or leaving a red mark on his girlfriends arm.

As for where I'm getting my info, the LA Times, The LA Daily News, and LA area radio talk shows. And in regards to the latter, yesterday they spoke very briefly of the argument happening in a crowded party filled with witnesses who each told a slightly different version of the story. Nobody was said to have witnessed anything they would describe as serious, which apparently is why it took so long for the police to file charges. So much time had passed that they felt they had to take the issue to court or drop the matter entirely.

Again, in any other year we'd all react to this type of story with a shrug of the collective shoulders, but I guess that's not going to happen now that Chris Henry made the character issue a source of embarrassment for the team, city, and fans. But c'mon, the violent destruction of a cell phone isn't a sign that the sky is falling.

[derekshank]

Frankly I'm not at all worried about this. When Henry got arrested the first time, we all concluded he was just stupid. It wasn't until he pointed a gun when we all realized that he was more than stupid, but a menace to society.

I agree with Hair that this is probably not a big deal. Watching the ESPNews ticker reveals these kinds of stories almost every day. Most of them don't amount to anything at all.

It is a little disappointing to have so many young guys with these sorts of issues... so the bigger concern to me is having them all in the same locker-room feeding off of eachother. This story alone isn't enough to worry me though.

In fact... given our issues with Henry prior to this, the fact that they were willing to take a first day chance on Rucker lead me both to believe that his issues are not all that worrisome, and that his talent is much better than most of us are aware... because you don't make a reach pick in the 3rd round for a guy with any hint of character issues. I'm starting to think he might end up making a big impact on our pass rush issues.

[USMC203]

Henry will end up working a deal on the charge of boos to miner. His lawyer in Fl will get that busted down, and he will plead to a leser charge. He will plead guilty to the DUI in Ohio and he will be put out of 4 to 6 games by the NFL and a fine by the team. The charge on Nickelson will end up going away because it is more of a civil matter and there will be some money offered to make it go away. Rucker's charge will be dismissed because of the time factor and some money will change hands. I think that CH will stay with the Bengals and end up a model player. He is just to good for the team to let him go. By the end of the season most of us will forget about it when CH has 800 to 900 yards and 8 or 9 trips to the end zone and Rucker proves that he is a sack man with 8 or 9 for the year, Nickelson has a year like Thurman had as a rookie. All will be good in Bengal Land when we make it through the playoffs and to the BIG ONE IN JAN.

[HairOnFire]

Did anyone else follow the link to the message board that Walrus provided? Pretty interesting stuff. Here's a brief recap.

1 - The thread is started by a fan who, prior to the NFL draft, is giving props for Rucker improving his game to a level where he would likely be drafted in the 3rd round. (Dead on, right?)

2 - The thread morphs into a discussion about Ruckers performance in the championship game against Texas. Love him or hate him the consensus opinion seemed to be that Rucker had a fairly bad game at the end of a very fine season.

3 - The thread then touches on the sexual assualt charge that Rucker faced at Colorado. Most interesting is the bit about the accuser eventually admitting to the police that she had lied about the incident. And that still matters, right?

4 - Finally, the thread closes with one fan repeating a 2nd hand story about Rucker verbally heckling the ball boys at a basketball game several years ago. I swear to you that I tried to care about this incident, but in the end I couldn't screw up any anger or frustration.

In fact... given our issues with Henry prior to this, the fact that they were willing to take a first day chance on Rucker lead me both to believe that his issues are not all that worrisome, and that his talent is much better than most of us are aware... because you don't make a reach pick in the 3rd round for a guy with any hint of character issues. I'm starting to think he might end up making a big impact on our pass rush issues.

Right now at this frozen moment in time I'm fairly comfortable stating that Frostee Rucker is the 3rd best DE on the Bengals roster. Possibly the 2nd.

1 - J. Smith

2 - B. Robinson

3 - F. Rucker

4 - R. Geathers

[Kazkal]

Hairs on fire ....... lol

Psshhh wheres the fanene love even though hes looks more like a bengal DT size wise

[derekshank]

Hairs on fire ....... lol

Psshhh wheres the fanene love even though hes looks more like a bengal DT size wise

I always have a hard time trying to decipher if there is sarcasm in a post like this. But just in case:

I don't understand all the Fanene love around here. He was a 7th round pick, and for all the talk about how much promise he showed last year... he played in 3 games, and made 2 tackles. Am I to believe that a 7th round second year player that has made 2 NFL tackles has more skill than Rucker or Geathers?

Rucker's stats are incredibly similar to the 1st round selection out of Penn State Tamba Hali. While I won't say he's a 1st round talent... he's certainly got upside. Fanene is practice squad material.

[BENGALTHEM]

I live in Los Angeles...........I got to see a lot of USC games and Frostee Rucker is impressive, believe that!!! The Bengals already knew about Frostees situation before they drafted him, so why is everyone pitchin a bitch now? Don't let Henry's situation magnify the Nicholson and Rucker pick. Every individual has a diffrent situation.

I believe the draft is a crapshoot. If scouts knew Housh was going to be this good, he wouldn't have been drafted in the 7th round. Granted, all the measurables steer teams towards where a player ranking should be, but at the end of the day it's all a gamble. There are plenty of examples of high draft picks that were busts and low draft picks that turned out to be stars. (ala Leaf and Brady.) Just about every player that comes out has some kind of issue whether it's off the field, prior injuries, or just plane football performance.

Dillion and Chad Johnson weren't choir boys. Weathesrsby got shot right before the draft! The ESPN analysts actually laughed when we took Levi Jones! The thing is you got to judge each pick individually, because every situation is diffrent. The Bengals knew the situation with Washinton's neck, Stacy Andrew's limited experience, Thurman's trouble, didn't Jeremi Johnson have some trouble? We traded for Deltha, who's confidence was shook soo bad, he was playing reciever. I think the Bengals evaluate the talent, and if they like what they hear in the interview, they keep him on the board. Since Marvin Lewis has been here I give his overall rating in the draft an A. I remember when Nicholson got drafted, when I saw the interview, he seemed genuwinely happy to be drafted and playing for the Bengals. Plus I always like when a team drafts a player from a good defense. Florida State like Louiville lost a lot of defensive palyers in the draft.

Anyhow......the message is don't beleive the hype. They know what they're doing in the front office. The Bengals are this good mainly becacuse of their recent draft history. The exception is Henry. And at least his trouble isn't on the field performance or else we wouldn't even be talking about him. Just because Henry is a nut doesn't mean Thurman, Rucker and Nicholson are nuts too.

[Walrus]

Did anyone else follow the link to the message board that Walrus provided? Pretty interesting stuff. Here's a brief recap.

1 - The thread is started by a fan who, prior to the NFL draft, is giving props for Rucker improving his game to a level where he would likely be drafted in the 3rd round. (Dead on, right?)

2 - The thread morphs into a discussion about Ruckers performance in the championship game against Texas. Love him or hate him the consensus opinion seemed to be that Rucker had a fairly bad game at the end of a very fine season.

3 - The thread then touches on the sexual assualt charge that Rucker faced at Colorado. Most interesting is the bit about the accuser eventually admitting to the police that she had lied about the incident. And that still matters, right?

4 - Finally, the thread closes with one fan repeating a 2nd hand story about Rucker verbally heckling the ball boys at a basketball game several years ago. I swear to you that I tried to care about this incident, but in the end I couldn't screw up any anger or frustration.

In fact... given our issues with Henry prior to this, the fact that they were willing to take a first day chance on Rucker lead me both to believe that his issues are not all that worrisome, and that his talent is much better than most of us are aware... because you don't make a reach pick in the 3rd round for a guy with any hint of character issues. I'm starting to think he might end up making a big impact on our pass rush issues.

Right now at this frozen moment in time I'm fairly comfortable stating that Frostee Rucker is the 3rd best DE on the Bengals roster. Possibly the 2nd.

1 - J. Smith

2 - B. Robinson

3 - F. Rucker

4 - R. Geathers

That message board was one of several on which I found people discussing Frostee's character. I found mentions here and there about girlfriends he might have had bad breakups with or a girl he was alleged to have harassed back in High School. Some smoke here or there. It may be that Frostee has a little trouble treating ladies right. Or, it may be that, due to his personal charisma, ladies are more attracted to him and thus he is more vulnerable to their ire (something about..."a woman scorned" ). I guess I will just assume the latter since we haven't seen any fire yet for any of the smoke. *shrug*

Oh, and -- yes -- I got love for Fanene, too. I got a soft spot for Fanene, Stacey Andrews and anyone involved in that whole Bootsy Collins Bengal rap thing last year! Those fellas put together some sweet rhymes!