Bad Character Leads to Bad Sportswriting.

[HairOnFire]

Bengals have character, all right -- a lot of it bad

July 17, 2006

By Gregg Doyel

CBS SportsLine.com National Columnist

If you lived in Cincinnati and turned on your sports radio, you'd hear pious Bengals coach Marvin Lewis say, "We're going to continue to pay big attention to character and red-flag things like that."

Chris Henry dropped the ball this offseason, getting arrested four times in eight months. (Getty Images)

And then five days later in the 2006 NFL Draft you'd see pious Bengals coach Marvin Lewis pick Southern California defensive end Frostee Rucker, whose known rap sheet included accusations of sexual assaults against two women and indecent exposure in front of a third.

If you lived in Cincinnati, you'd hear righteous Bengals coach Marvin Lewis say, "If you do the research and you do the character and background (checks) all the way through -- which we've been able to do and are continuing to do on these guys -- you've got to feel like you've done the right thing."

And then in 2005 you'd see Lewis draft Georgia linebacker Odell Thurman, who had been kicked off that team as a freshman for failing a drug test, then got suspended by his junior college team for other reasons, then returned to Georgia ... where he was accused of underage drinking and having an open container in a car, and for dessert, was involved in a separate incident with his pregnant girlfriend that ended up on a police report.

If you lived in Cincinnati, you'd hear disciplinarian Bengals coach Marvin Lewis say, "We're not so much going to get the popular guy but the guy that fits what we want to do -- raise the level of professionalism in the whole building."

And then in April you'd see Lewis draft Florida State linebacker A.J. Nicholson, who once had to be subdued by a Tallahassee police officer's Taser after Nicholson allegedly ran from police and hid in bushes near a construction site. He also had been arrested on DUI charges and sent home before the 2006 Orange Bowl for bringing a woman to his hotel room. She accused Nicholson of sexual assault. Four months later, the Bengals drafted him.

These are your new Cincinnati Bengals. They're a lot better than the old Bengals, who were embarrassing, but generally the old Bengals confined their embarrassing episodes to Sundays at the field. The new Bengals -- Marvin Lewis' improved, formidable Bengals -- are only embarrassing when the game ends and the real world begins.

The new Bengals in April drafted Rucker in the third round and Nicholson in the fifth, and in between spent their fourth pick on Michigan State defensive tackle Domata Peko -- 11 months after he was caught urinating in public and running from the police.

In 2005, the new Bengals had drafted the troublesome Thurman in the second round and followed that by picking crotchety Chris Henry in Round 3. At West Virginia, Henry had been ejected from a game for drawing two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, after which he got into a shouting match with coach Rich Rodriguez and gave the Rutgers crowd the finger. Later that season he was suspended one game for violations of multiple undisclosed team rules. Still later that season, he was benched in the Gator Bowl for taking off his helmet and waving sophomorically after not being thrown the ball. Then Henry got into it again with Rodriguez. Four months later, the Bengals drafted him.

Now then. Get this.

If you lived in Cincinnati right now, you'd be reading about a litany of off-field embarrassments involving Rucker, Thurman, Nicholson and Henry. Shocking, I know. Here's the rundown:

Rucker faces two counts of spousal battery and two counts of vandalism stemming from an incident when he was in college, an incident that -- unlike his alleged sexual assaults -- came to light after he was drafted.

Thurman reportedly will be suspended for four games for a second strike in the NFL's drug-testing program.

Nicholson was charged last month with burglarizing the apartment of a former FSU teammate, allegedly making off with $1,700 worth of electronic equipment.

Henry has been arrested four times in eight months: charges of (1) marijuana possession, (2) drunken driving, (3) providing alcohol to three teenage girls -- ages 15, 16 and 18 -- and (4) brandishing a 9-mm Luger during an argument on an Orlando street. Eight rounds of hollow-point bullets were found in his limousine. The pistol was later reported stolen.

If you lived in Cincinnati, you'd hear shocked Bengals coach Marvin Lewis say recently of his naughty players: "I told the people that yes, you embarrass us as an organization, myself, and the coaches when these things occur. Right, wrong or indifferent, there are certain things that you're asked not to be a part of or around."

Right. By drafting known miscreants -- year after year -- Lewis has sent a message, and not a subliminal one, that high ability trumps low character. The skinflint Bengals have the NFL's smallest scouting department, which limits their ability to investigate potential draft picks, but come on. Try Google.com. Plug in "A.J. Nicholson" and "arrested."

The Bengals said neither Lewis nor owner Mike Brown would comment for this story, though Brown issued a statement last week. It read, in part: "We want our fans to know that we share their concerns regarding the recent off-field conduct of several Bengals players. We expect our players to be good citizens, as most are, and we hold them accountable for their conduct under team and league rules."

The Bengals aren't alone in valuing talent over character. The New York Yankees just signed pitcher Sidney Ponson, whose rap sheet includes punching out an Aruban judge. The Miami Hurricanes just lost linebacker Willie Williams, who seeks a transfer from the school that signed him despite his 11 adolescent arrests. That's two of 2,000 examples.

They have plenty of company, but the Bengals are especially brazen about it. On the same day news broke about Thurman's suspension and Rucker's continuance in his spousal battery case, the Bengals spent a third-round 2007 pick on Virginia linebacker Ahmad Brooks. Brooks was forced to go through the supplemental draft after being kicked off the team at Virginia, reportedly for failing multiple drug tests. He'll fit right in.

These are Marvin Lewis' Cincinnati Bengals. If this wasn't Cincinnati, I'd swear they were Al Davis' Oakland Raiders.

[HairOnFire]

If you lived in Cincinnati and turned on your sports radio, you'd hear pious Bengals coach Marvin Lewis say, "We're going to continue to pay big attention to character and red-flag things like that."

If you lived in Cincinnati, you'd hear righteous Bengals coach Marvin Lewis say, "If you do the research and you do the character and background (checks) all the way through -- which we've been able to do and are continuing to do on these guys -- you've got to feel like you've done the right thing."

If you lived in Cincinnati, you'd hear disciplinarian Bengals coach Marvin Lewis say, "We're not so much going to get the popular guy but the guy that fits what we want to do -- raise the level of professionalism in the whole building."

And if you paid attention from the start you'd have heard Marvin Lewis state..."You don't win with church mice."

I find absolutely nothing hypocritical about what Marvin is saying and what he's doing. He's simply not going to let one players spectacular meltdown change the way he builds his team.

Pious? Righteous? Those words best describe the bleatings of a bad sportswriter who finds himself atop a convenient soapbox.

They have plenty of company, but the Bengals are especially brazen about it. On the same day news broke about Thurman's suspension and Rucker's continuance in his spousal battery case, the Bengals spent a third-round 2007 pick on Virginia linebacker Ahmad Brooks.

What's brazen about that? Were the Bengals supposed to abandon their plans to draft Brooks simply because the timing was poor? They didn't schedule the supplemental draft, and I'm not sure they were in control of when the news broke about Odells suspension.

The new Bengals in April drafted Rucker in the third round and Nicholson in the fifth, and in between spent their fourth pick on Michigan State defensive tackle Domata Peko -- 11 months after he was caught urinating in public and running from the police.

Uh oh, add Peko to the list. In the frenzy over this issue we can now add random acts of urination to the list of things that will cripple a teams Super Bowl chances.

This is a perfect example of taking a point so far that you end up mocking your own position. How many can you think of? Worst draft ever. Can the Bengals climb out of the hole they find themselves in without losing a single game. Ranking them 19th after you admit they should be close to the best. And now, sadly...Peko peed.

[HairOnFire]

The skinflint Bengals have the NFL's smallest scouting department, which limits their ability to investigate potential draft picks, but come on. Try Google.com. Plug in "A.J. Nicholson" and "arrested."

Exactly. And unless the writer is seriously suggesting that nobody in the Bengals front office has a computer then the idea that they don't know the details of Nicholson's situation is too stupid to consider. But the writer still makes the attempt even when he knows that the NFL provides every team with detailed reports on every draft prospect free of charge. The Bengals also pay for reports from BLESTO as well as from their own scouts. And I'm pretty sure that Marvin "Powerpoint" Lewis knows how to Google.

You want hypocritical? How about a sportswriter who argues that the Bengals are brazenly pursuing talent they know to be of poor character...while in the next paragraph the same writer claims that they're so cheap they don't know what they're doing.

[kingwilly]

It is a bit sensational but the facts are facts...just interpreted with a differing degree of impact.

HOF, when do you consider an anomoly becoming a trend? When do you step back and say "What the heck is going on here"?

What is your threshold for when issues like this become a big enough distraction to start having negative effects?

just curious.

[BengalByTheBay]

The new Bengals in April drafted Rucker in the third round and Nicholson in the fifth, and in between spent their fourth pick on Michigan State defensive tackle Domata Peko -- 11 months after he was caught urinating in public and running from the police.

Uh oh, add Peko to the list. In the frenzy over this issue we can now add random acts of urination to the list of things that will cripple a teams Super Bowl chances.

This is a perfect example of taking a point so far that you end up mocking your own position. How many can you think of? Worst draft ever. Can the Bengals climb out of the hole they find themselves in without losing a single game. Ranking them 19th after you admit they should be close to the best. And now, sadly...Peko peed.

Perfect -- someone has finally played the trump card of bad Bengal character -- public urination. No longer do you have to look for some redneck's truck with the peeing Calvin on the rear window to see such disgusting behavior, you can just jog down to the Georgetown practice field, or the parking lot -- if well timed. This whole thing has turned a corner somewhere and veered into the sublime.

It is a bit sensational but the facts are facts...just interpreted with a differing degree of impact.

HOF, when do you consider an anomoly becoming a trend? When do you step back and say "What the heck is going on here"?

What is your threshold for when issues like this become a big enough distraction to start having negative effects?

just curious.

I won't presume to talk for HOF, but for me it would be when I stop believing that athletes are individuals like the rest of us. But then again, Peko took a whiz and then ran away from the cops. To ask the opposite, when do you start thinking that some of these "character incidents" are a little overblown and a ridiculous reach to the conclusion that everybody drafted by the Bengals is a criminal? Public urination? No? I believe the expose on Bengals jackwalking is in production at Fox Sports right now.

[HairOnFire]

It is a bit sensational but the facts are facts...just interpreted with a differing degree of impact.

HOF, when do you consider an anomoly becoming a trend? When do you step back and say "What the heck is going on here"?

What is your threshold for when issues like this become a big enough distraction to start having negative effects?

just curious.

That's just the point, the facts aren't the facts. We've morphed into a silly media frenzy where the Bengals are blamed for the timing of the supplemental draft, Google-gate, and now....Peko peed. Plus, I don't hear many people, including pompous sportwriters, making the argument that none of these players should have been drafted by any team. And that's because everyone knows that at some point each of these players would be snapped up by other teams willing to take a chance on talent that had slipped into the bargain bin. They all would have found work in the NFL, right? So we're not talking about a team doing the unthinkable. We're talking about a team taking the same calculated gamble over and over again even after Chris Henry had imploded. Well that's too soon for some people. And too often. But so what? It's just a case of this team doing what it's always done, and on more than one occasion it has paid off brilliantly in the past. (Dillon, Pickens, Chad, etc.)

When will this become a negative distraction? Well, it already has in the example of Chris Henry, and to a much lesser degree with Thurman. But the risks are known, as are the draft costs, and I find the potential reward to be far greater than the risks.

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

That's just the point, the facts aren't the facts. We've morphed into a silly media frenzy where the Bengals are blamed for the timing of the supplemental draft, Google-gate, and now....Peko peed. Plus, I don't hear many people, including pompous sportwriters, making the argument that none of these players should have been drafted by any team. And that's because everyone knows that at some point each of these players would be snapped up by other teams willing to take a chance on talent that had slipped into the bargain bin. They all would have found work in the NFL, right? So we're not talking about a team doing the unthinkable. We're talking about a team taking the same calculated gamble over and over again even after Chris Henry had imploded. Well that's too soon for some people. And too often. But so what? It's just a case of this team doing what it's always done, and on more than one occasion it has paid off brilliantly in the past. (Dillon, Pickens, Chad, etc.)

When will this become a negative distraction? Well, it already has in the example of Chris Henry, and to a much lesser degree with Thurman. But the risks are known, as are the draft costs, and I find the potential reward to be far greater than the risks.

OK then, we won't say that any guy (short of Rae Curruth) is such a jackass that he shouldn't be drafted at all. The question then is, how many rounds do you discount him? In Odell, the Bengals got about a 0.5 - 1 round discount. Not bad for a guy that did allright at UGA. In Henry, they got a 1-1.5 round discount for a guy who is a general ass. I don't think anyone would have predicted 4 arrests. Take away the weapons charge and we're still getting a good deal. Nicholson was a steal at a 4 round discount for a well-timed sexual assault (alleged) before the Orange Bowl.

But the Rucker pick was horrible, they probably took him at or above where he would have gone without any baggage. And Brooks, in addition to not playing football much lately and ballooning to 290, and getting kicked out of school, ate a 3rd round pick. Too high. And at some point you have to ask just how much time the coaching staff is going to spend each week herding cats with all these retards running around.

In short, character risks make sense as long as you don't have too many, and assuming you actually get a discount. But I think they have too many from 2 drafts, and I don't think they got a real discount on 2 of them

[kingwilly]

It is a bit sensational but the facts are facts...just interpreted with a differing degree of impact.

HOF, when do you consider an anomoly becoming a trend? When do you step back and say "What the heck is going on here"?

What is your threshold for when issues like this become a big enough distraction to start having negative effects?

just curious.

That's just the point, the facts aren't the facts.

When will this become a negative distraction? Well, it already has in the example of Chris Henry, and to a much lesser degree with Thurman. But the risks are known, as are the draft costs, and I find the potential reward to be far greater than the risks.

The facts aren't the facts??? how so? show me the part where this article is not looking to the facts...

The Bengals are gambling and losing....one of the rules when you go to Vegas is don't bet more than you can afford to lose....The bengals are betting more than they can afford to lose...and if these are calculated risks, just like they've done in the past, it reminds me of what they did the most in the past...LOSE.

The theme of the article is not to examine any of these players ability, only their common character questions and the Bengals willingness to roll the dice quick and fast whenever a "wayward" boy needs a home.

This is not a refrom school, this is the NFL. The amount of time it takes to convert guys with these issues costs this team the time it needs to go from good to great. It is a distraction and they have not learned....yes, that stove is hot, everytime...

[Spor_tees]

I'd rather take a chance on a guy with marginal ability, too short, too slow, undersized, ect...or injury questions, than a guy with character issues any day. You can cut a guy for lack of talent, you can get an injury settlement for a hurt player, but you are stuck with a player that gets suspended for drugs or thrown in jail. And someone said someting about Dead money and dead cap space?

[Dadraftnick]

In ancient times before the invention of the cell phone,messages were sent from one village to another via a runner. Often the runner would carry bad news such as a threat of war or an insult.........

Upon hearing this the king would ofen Kill/Blame the Messenger thus the phrase --Dont blame the messenger.

Wake up !

When we took these I recall having the conversation of just this subject, and saying that these guys would be a distraction,would make us a laughing stock ect.

What this guy is saying IS TRUE,I agree that putting Peko in the mix is going a little too far but, we deserve a little $hi+ for drafting these guys.

One or two character risks at a time is more than enough for any coach/team/organization/fan base to deal with.

We have WWWWAAAAAYYYY too many character risks on this team and we could end up paying a dear price by cutting a good player to save a spot for a guy like Henry only to have Henry to screw us and get arrested AGAIN while the guy we cut goes on to make us pay on a team we play against so we have ended up drafting the player for another team wasting our pick.

The truth is that because Mike Brown is CHEAP and we spend less money investigating these guys than other teams so,we dont know what we should about players and if we do know everything about these guys and we are taking them anyway then that is pretty foolish too.

Like I said one or two gambles would not have been so bad but we could be in a bad way if our 6 or 7 guys get arrested during the year and we have 4 or 5 major injuries then you have MAJOR problems.

What if our bad character guys currupt some of the younger guys and you have things starting to multiply that is how we got into the long drought.

What if something happens like the Victoria C. incident?

Im just saying dont blame the messenger ....We deserve it.

[richmond_mat]

Bengals have character, all right -- a lot of it bad

July 17, 2006

By Gregg Doyel

CBS SportsLine.com National Columnist

These are Marvin Lewis' Cincinnati Bengals. If this wasn't Cincinnati, I'd swear they were Al Davis' Oakland Raiders.

What the heck is wrong with old school oakland

Give me 100 wins in ten years.

Raiders 1970-79

100-38-6

look it up.

WHO DEY

JWB

[Stripes]

Bengals have character, all right -- a lot of it bad

July 17, 2006

By Gregg Doyel

CBS SportsLine.com National Columnist

These are Marvin Lewis' Cincinnati Bengals. If this wasn't Cincinnati, I'd swear they were Al Davis' Oakland Raiders.

What the heck is wrong with old school oakland

Give me 100 wins in ten years.

Raiders 1970-79

100-38-6

look it up.

WHO DEY

JWB

I think they snagged two Lombardis in that span as well..... I'd love to do what they did. Screw all this other drama.

[bwillycuse]

Very good approach Hair.

As someone said in another thread, this is all magnified due to the time of year. There is no other news at all. Lets whip on the Bengals because its easy to do.

I would definitely NOT want a 'good character' player who has mediocre skills. What does that do for the team.

Also, we are a deep team...We do not need every draft pick to be right on. We have the leisure to 'reach' for diamonds in the rough. Thats how you get better. Thats the difference between now and a few years back.

If Henry worked out would anyone complain? If Brooks works out is there going to be second guessing on using a third round?

Yes, this is all frustrating but it isnt the end of the world.

Whatever happened to Michael Irvin and his crack pipe? Seems like he has character issues also. He has a couple rings I believe. So does Ray and LT.

Overreactions and nothing else to talk about.

11 days until camp opens.

[ViewFromSec310]

Whatever happened to Michael Irvin and his crack pipe? Seems like he has character issues also. He has a couple rings I believe. So does Ray and LT.

It's funny that ESPN employees Mirchael Irvin despite all that he has a done. ESPN is more about making news and less about reporting news.

I don't have much of a problem with any of the accused expect for Henry. He is the only one that seems to be to far gone or doesn't care. I think that most of these charges against the other guys will go away.

I also feel that the Bengals will release Henry when they can do so, without being sued.

[Ickey44]

Whatever happened to Michael Irvin and his crack pipe? Seems like he has character issues also. He has a couple rings I believe.

No kidding, and last I checked he still has a job with ESPN. Why isn't anyone bashing them for keeping convicts on the air??

[schweinhart]

Likely there's still some imprinted residue of Bengals bashing by the hacks. It wasn't too long ago that they couldn't write anything that didn't include "laughingstock" and "worst pro sport franchise".

But the conduct of these handful of Bengals picks has exposed the team to bashing once again -- a variety that should be far easier for Bengals fans to digest than the laughingstock type.

This sportsline clown now has taken it upon himself to bash Marv directly in contrast to the perceived persona that Marv values character above all else, which is nonsense. But to avoid character risk picks from backfiring in their faces like Odell and Henry have, maybe they do need to reconsider their approach next year when it comes to projected starters or high impact contributors. Odell's eff ups have hurt this team's chances to win some tough games early. And Henry's loss could be significantly greater if either Chad or Housh go down.

Overall, it still is quite sanctimonious for these writers to bash the Bengals like this unless they're prepared to show they didn't think these picks would be drafted by any team at all. Outside of Frostee Rucker, I doubt that they would've had them picked too far from where they went.

[HairOnFire]

The Bengals are gambling and losing....one of the rules when you go to Vegas is don't bet more than you can afford to lose....The bengals are betting more than they can afford to lose...and if these are calculated risks, just like they've done in the past, it reminds me of what they did the most in the past...LOSE.

You're half right. They're gamblers. But before you dismiss their strategy consider the fact that Chad Johnson is one of the very best players in the NFL, and he came with much of the same types of baggage that are being kicked around today.

Poor grades? Yup.

A history of fighting with teammates? Yup.

Considered uncoachable? Yup again.

Kicked off of a college team? Yup yup yup.

Failed drug tests? Nope, but if you go all of the way back to his Florida high school days there were plenty of rumors.

NFL teams knew all of this before Chad was drafted, yet he was still projected to be a 1st round pick...likely selected from 12-20....before he ran a series of poor 40 yard dashes. That fact alone made teams less willing to take a chance on a player who came with Chad's baggage and as a result he slipped all of the way to the Bengals 2nd round slot. And they selected him there, and reaped the rewards, because they had interviewed him enough to be comfortable with his unique personality. They were satisfied that Chad Johnson had CHANGED.

And it didn't hurt their chances when prior to the draft they conducted private workouts with Chad that produced very fast 40 yard times.

[ArmyBengal]

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060716/1064959.asp

Here's a link to a commentary out of Buffalo. For all those who think the Bengals are just unaware and didn't know what they were getting into, I give you the following...

The NFL investigates every player entering the draft. Any skeletons in the closet will be exposed. All teams get the same reports on players with histories of misconduct.

WHODEY !!!

[BengalByTheBay]

The Marvin bashing is new, and interesting. It would seem to me that there is this backlash against Marvin -- especially on this issue. Like writers feel betrayed that Lewis would say one thing and then, quite clearly, do another. It's one of the things that I'm starting to really like about ole Marv. -- second only to Clinton Portis' press conference dress-ups of last year -- that was the all time classic press treatment.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

Bengals have character, all right -- a lot of it bad

July 17, 2006

By Gregg Doyel

CBS SportsLine.com National Columnist

These are Marvin Lewis' Cincinnati Bengals. If this wasn't Cincinnati, I'd swear they were Al Davis' Oakland Raiders.

What the heck is wrong with old school oakland

Give me 100 wins in ten years.

Raiders 1970-79

100-38-6

look it up.

WHO DEY

JWB

Difference is those guys got into trouble "on the field" not off of it.

They were just nasty, in-your-face football players and relished the image - not two-bit criminals.

[HairOnFire]

OK then, we won't say that any guy (short of Rae Curruth) is such a jackass that he shouldn't be drafted at all. The question then is, how many rounds do you discount him? In Odell, the Bengals got about a 0.5 - 1 round discount. Not bad for a guy that did allright at UGA. In Henry, they got a 1-1.5 round discount for a guy who is a general ass. I don't think anyone would have predicted 4 arrests. Take away the weapons charge and we're still getting a good deal. Nicholson was a steal at a 4 round discount for a well-timed sexual assault (alleged) before the Orange Bowl.

But the Rucker pick was horrible, they probably took him at or above where he would have gone without any baggage. And Brooks, in addition to not playing football much lately and ballooning to 290, and getting kicked out of school, ate a 3rd round pick. Too high.

Prior to the draft Rucker was interviewed and asked where he might be taken. He claimed that 3 teams told him they were interested in drafting him as early as the 2nd round. One of those three teams was identified as the Carolina Panthers. Obviously the actual draft didn't work out that way, but I'm satisfied that Rucker was worthy of late 3rd round consideration. And if your biggest complaint is that he didn't slip like the others...well, the Bengals did have a pretty big need for a DE. And pure need will often dictate your selection. Rucker may have been the last DE on the draft board that they felt was worth a spit.

As for Brooks, it's fair to say that character AND injury concerns caused him to slip more than two full rounds. It's also fair to say that due to the way the supplemental draft is conducted a team that wants a player very badly is well served to go early or stay home. After all, you're bidding blind, right? And on that point consider this. Prior to that draft I gave my opinion that I was comfortable with the idea of the Bengals using a 4th round pick on Brooks, but admitted that such a bid likely wouldn't get the job done. The odds were simply too great that one of the many teams drafting ahead of them would cough up a 4th round pick.

[Kazkal]

If the bengals diden't draft someone else would have "shrug" well mybe besides rucker...will see how many teams are hating on us for character issues if carsons back at the start of the season throwing TD"s left and right then I bet 1,000,000 zone dollars that it won't be a big deal anymore...

[richmond_mat]

Bengals have character, all right -- a lot of it bad

July 17, 2006

By Gregg Doyel

CBS SportsLine.com National Columnist

These are Marvin Lewis' Cincinnati Bengals. If this wasn't Cincinnati, I'd swear they were Al Davis' Oakland Raiders.

What the heck is wrong with old school oakland

Give me 100 wins in ten years.

Raiders 1970-79

100-38-6

look it up.

WHO DEY

JWB

Difference is those guys got into trouble "on the field" not off of it.

They were just nasty, in-your-face football players and relished the image - not two-bit criminals.

So you do not find his comparison to be accurate? I'm not old enough to remember much about them. All I can tell is that they were winners. Winning will fix everything.

I'm not sure if brandishing a weapon is a two bit crime. But most of the rest seem to be just that, so why do so many have their britches in a knot? These fellows are paid to play football and that's all I ask of them. Play football and do nothing to prevent you from playing football.

[kingwilly]

The Bengals are gambling and losing....one of the rules when you go to Vegas is don't bet more than you can afford to lose....The bengals are betting more than they can afford to lose...and if these are calculated risks, just like they've done in the past, it reminds me of what they did the most in the past...LOSE.

You're half right. They're gamblers. But before you dismiss their strategy consider the fact that Chad Johnson is one of the very best players in the NFL, and he came with much of the same types of baggage that are being kicked around today.

Poor grades? Yup.

A history of fighting with teammates? Yup.

Considered uncoachable? Yup again.

Kicked off of a college team? Yup yup yup.

Failed drug tests? Nope, but if you go all of the way back to his Florida high school days there were plenty of rumors.

NFL teams knew all of this before Chad was drafted, yet he was still projected to be a 1st round pick...likely selected from 12-20....before he ran a series of poor 40 yard dashes. That fact alone made teams less willing to take a chance on a player who came with Chad's baggage and as a result he slipped all of the way to the Bengals 2nd round slot. And they selected him there, and reaped the rewards, because they had interviewed him enough to be comfortable with his unique personality. They were satisfied that Chad Johnson had CHANGED.

And it didn't hurt their chances when prior to the draft they conducted private workouts with Chad that produced very fast 40 yard times.

Yes. Chad has paid off. The previous year how many "Character" issue players did we take? One, P-Dub (shirt-gate)...overcame his character issues but was an underachiever (not all his fault, I realize). So back then it was a hit-or-miss proposition, not a repeated "All-in" gamble.

How about the year after we took CJ? I can't recall any major issues with that draft, character-wise...how about 03' ML's first draft? overall pretty darn good, no big issues...04' no stinkers, 05' enter the dragon year...06' + 06' Suppelemental...doozies.

While I disagree with the approach, I hope for the sake fo the team that they handle the issue effectively, make the most of the situation they subjected themselves to and find a way to make it work because the alternative is pretty ugly.