Matt Toeina

[COB]

"The Chicago Bears today signed rookie defensive tackle Matt Toeaina to a three-year contract. Toeaina, the Bengals sixth-round draft pick from Oregon, had been on the Cincinnati practice squad all season and had not played in a game. He was signed, by rule, to Chicago's 53-man roster and is expected to be active in the final three games, which would give him a credited NFL season."

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/benga...-dt-toeaina.asp

I'll miss his nickname the most. Sorry to see him go, but happy for him. If only we could have found someone just taking up space on the roster to make room for the Big Toe!

[HoosierCat]

If only we could have found someone just taking up space on the roster to make room for the Big Toe!

Well, look at the bright side, at least we still have Mr. Injured aka Mr. Inactive aka Mr. Non-Dairy Dessert aka Mr. Frostee Rucker...

[Storm]

"The Chicago Bears today signed rookie defensive tackle Matt Toeaina to a three-year contract. Toeaina, the Bengals sixth-round draft pick from Oregon, had been on the Cincinnati practice squad all season and had not played in a game. He was signed, by rule, to Chicago's 53-man roster and is expected to be active in the final three games, which would give him a credited NFL season."

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/benga...-dt-toeaina.asp

I'll miss his nickname the most. Sorry to see him go, but happy for him. If only we could have found someone just taking up space on the roster to make room for the Big Toe!

We could find a whole team of them

[ArmyBengal]

Well, anyone still thinking we need a RB more on day one than a DT ??

WHODEY !!!

[Kazkal]

Bastards I liked toe,Though I still wanted high DT I think he would have been good rotation in the end.

[AMC]

Wish he could have stuck around. Maybe he'll be back.....

[cmac]

It's 2006 all over again.

Lewis holds a roster spot the entire year (after game 3) for a broken down center named Richy Brahm and we loose good players that should be given a chance to show what they can do on game day.

Jump to 2007 and he's doing it again with Willie Anderson. The knock all year is that we can't get consistency because of injury but I have to hear week after f@#$% week that broke down Willie might be back this week.

How many roster spots have we lost week in and week out hoping (in the real world hope is not a plan) that a player will come back when deep down everyone knows they can't or won't. Chris Perry, Caleb Miller, Amad Brooks, Willie Anderson etc.

Lewis is an idiot!

He's as much as admitted so to the world. I too stupid to run the defense and be the head coach at the same time.

Shanahan can do 2 jobs, Holmgren can do 3, Belicheck can do 2, Reid can do 2, and there's more.

Willie got on the soap box yesterday and started plugging for a Black head coach in Atlanta. We have one in Cincy that's too damn dumb to coach in the NFL. Maybe they could take him off our hands.

[Kirkendall]

It's 2006 all over again.

Lewis holds a roster spot the entire year (after game 3) for a broken down center named Richy Brahm and we loose good players that should be given a chance to show what they can do on game day.

Jump to 2007 and he's doing it again with Willie Anderson. The knock all year is that we can't get consistency because of injury but I have to hear week after f@#$% week that broke down Willie might be back this week.

How many roster spots have we lost week in and week out hoping (in the real world hope is not a plan) that a player will come back when deep down everyone knows they can't or won't. Chris Perry, Caleb Miller, Amad Brooks, Willie Anderson etc.

Lewis is an idiot!

He's as much as admitted so to the world. I too stupid to run the defense and be the head coach at the same time.

Shanahan can do 2 jobs, Holmgren can do 3, Belicheck can do 2, Reid can do 2, and there's more.

Willie got on the soap box yesterday and started plugging for a Black head coach in Atlanta. We have one in Cincy that's too damn dumb to coach in the NFL. Maybe they could take him off our hands.

Yea, I support giving the Brown family another shot at grabbing a head coach. My question to you. What do you see happening first, Lewis takes the Bengals to another post-season or the Browns hire a head coach that will be better than the one before? Because historically speaking, Lewis has the advantage.

Furthermore, don't compare Lewis to coaches that won Super Bowls or made four NFC championship appearances. That's not fair to compare him to a 1% of the coaching community that will likely find themselves in the Hall (well, maybe not Reid until a SB win).

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

I think the real story here is...man, how far has the Bears D fallen? They're reduced to grabbing players from the *practice squad* of a defense ranked around 30th? What, nobody in the CFL would return their calls?

I agree though, how was it not worth giving this guy a shot?

[HairOnFire]

For those scratching their heads wondering why Big Toe wasn't brought up earlier....I'm pretty sure practice squad players have to clear waivers before being signed to the 53-man roster. If true it now seems obvious he wouldn't have done so.

I'm also not 100% about the following, but I think losing the Toe in this manner either results in a compensatory pick equal to the lost players draft status (6th Rd.) or, along with other factors and losses, is included in the valuation of another compensatory pick.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

For those scratching their heads wondering why Big Toe wasn't brought up earlier....I'm pretty sure practice squad players have to clear waivers before being signed to the 53-man roster. If true it now seems obvious he wouldn't have done so.

I'm also not 100% about the following, but I think losing the Toe in this manner either results in a compensatory pick equal to the lost players draft status (6th Rd.) or, along with other factors and losses, is included in the valuation of another compensatory pick.

I really don't think they have to clear a waiver process every time they are brought up from the PS - otherwise what's the point of having a PS if you every time you need to bring up a player, you risk losing him? Seems pointless.

Maybe that's accurate after they spend the 14 weeks on the PS though? (and at that point other teams can sign anyone they want from other PS's) I don't know for certain.

Regardless i'm really suprised that the Bengals' didn't see this coming from another team with Toe, and made a roster spot for him. I mean what do they see in Frostee Rucker at this point?

I don't know, just sort of a typical Bengals' thing here, and another wasted draft pick that actually had some potential. So, whatever, hopefully they get some compensation of some sort.

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

I really don't think they have to clear a waiver process every time they are brought up from the PS - otherwise what's the point of having a PS if you every time you need to bring up a player, you risk losing him? Seems pointless.

Don't know the rule, but it wouldn't make sense for it to be easier for another team to sign your PS players than to promote them yourself.

[HoosierCat]

Guys on the PS do not have to pass through waivers before you can sign them to the active roster.

If you cut a guy, like the Bengals did with Big Toe, at the end of camp and want to sign him to your PS, then he has to clear waivers first. But once he is on the PS, then he can be signed by you or any other team. The only stipulation is that if you are signing a guy from another team's PS, he has to be put on your active roster.

I don't believe this will factor into comp picks at all.

[HairOnFire]

Fair enough, I stand corrected.

Still not humble though.

[Bengals1]

How many roster spots have we lost week in and week out hoping (in the real world hope is not a plan) that a player will come back when deep down everyone knows they can't or won't. Chris Perry, Caleb Miller, Amad Brooks, Willie Anderson etc.

You don't live in the real world, you live in Cincinnati!

[Kirkendall]

How many roster spots have we lost week in and week out hoping (in the real world hope is not a plan) that a player will come back when deep down everyone knows they can't or won't. Chris Perry, Caleb Miller, Amad Brooks, Willie Anderson etc.

You don't live in the real world, you live in Cincinnati!

The bigger question to me is, why do we have this suspecting feeling that our medical staff don't know what they're doing. Peter Warrick always comes to mind when they have a player out on injury for 13 straight weeks finally putting him on IR.

Here's another issue. Heard the Bengals will likely be OVER the cap this year because they have to keep signing people to fill roster spots from those that are injured.

[HoosierCat]

Here's another issue. Heard the Bengals will likely be OVER the cap this year because they have to keep signing people to fill roster spots from those that are injured.

Yeah, per Hobson, they will lose about $2 million in cap space next year. Basically they spent the whole injury cushion, which put them right up against the cap -- and then Hall hit his playing time incentives, pushing them a couple million over.

[kingwilly]

Well, it would be helpful to fully understand how the contracts for the players that were injury-signings have been structured. It cannot be that we will be loaded with guys like Schlegel, Maxwell and Mays next year and that those guys are what will be bogging down the cap space, it seems like these guys will be purged, thus freeing up the space.

There are no less than 12 LB's on the team (active roster, PUP, IR, and other).

How many of these listed will be on the team next year?

Active:

Jeanty, Rashad

Johnson, Landon

Jones, Dhani

Manning, Roy

Maxwell, Jim

Mays, Corey

Schlegel, Anthony

PUP:

Pollack, David

IR:

Brooks, Ahmad

Henderson, Eric

Marshall, Lemar

Miller, Caleb

Other:

Thurman, Odell

[Scottishbengal]

Maybe he'll be back.....

Ahhh, the Return of The Big Toe .....sounds like a spoof detective series

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

The bigger question to me is, why do we have this suspecting feeling that our medical staff don't know what they're doing. Peter Warrick always comes to mind when they have a player out on injury for 13 straight weeks finally putting him on IR.

You don't have to look that far back. Isn't part of the problem with Willie that they misdiagnosed his foot injury forever until Marvin finally sent him elsewhere for a second opinion? And now he has a foot and a pair of knees that may never be right again?

Boggles the mind that you'd spend $100M on labor for employees that need to be in top physical condition to perform, then skimp on the doctors. Just idiotic.

[HoosierCat]

Active:

Jeanty, Rashad - Exclusive rights FA I think, so almost certain to return

Johnson, Landon - Probably

Jones, Dhani - if he wants to stay they would be dumb not to try to keep him

Manning, Roy - who?

Maxwell, Jim - who?

Mays, Corey - who?

Schlegel, Anthony - I think he was signed to a 2-year deal so probably

PUP:

Pollack, David - depends on the neck

IR:

Brooks, Ahmad - yes

Henderson, Eric - probably

Marshall, Lemar - doubtful

Miller, Caleb - please gawd no

Other:

Thurman, Odell - depends upon GOD-el.

[Jet23]

I caught the 'tail end' of one of the morning shows. I guess Chick went off about this. Did anyone else hear the entire story? From what I gathered, the Bengals called Big Toe on his way to Chicago in an attempt to keep him. I don't know if this is true, because once someone is plucked from the PS, I didn't think the original team had the option of adding him to the roster. Perhaps it would be the Player's option at that point, but I do not know.

If this happened prior to the Bengals being eliminated from playoff contention, I would just chalk this up to bad luck. However, they should have known that he would be a target for other teams. What sense does it make to keep guys around that will not be a part of the team next year? The bottom line is they should have known and done something about it.

It looks like Bobby Depaul if responsible for this move. He is Chicago's Director of Pro Personnel. His only job is to evaluate players on other team rosters. I didn't know you were allowed to have one of those...

[HoosierCat]

I guess Chick went off about this.

Well, it doesn't take much to get Chick riled up. Here's his writeup from the DDN...

Bengals lose promising rookie to Chicago Bears

By Chick Ludwig

Staff Writer

Thursday, December 13, 2007

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Bengals got lucky once, but not twice. They gambled and lost one of their most promising young players when rookie defensive tackle Matt Toeaina signed a three-year contract with the Chicago Bears on Wednesday night.

Toeaina, a sixth-round draft pick from the University of Oregon, was buried on the Bengals' practice squad for 14 weeks, making him eligible to be signed to another NFL club's 53-man active roster.

Toeaina, a 6-foot-2, 311-pounder from American Samoa, was being groomed as an eventual replacement for aging Bengals veterans Bryan Robinson, John Thornton and Michael Myers.

Cincinnati could have kept Toeaina by promoting him off the practice squad to the active roster.

But the injury-riddled Bears snapped him up, one day after they signed free agent defensive tackle Jimmy Kennedy. Both Toeaina and Kennedy will likely play when the Bears (5-8) visit the Minnesota Vikings (7-6) in Monday night's nationally-televised game on ESPN.

Ironically, the Bengals brought Kennedy to Paul Brown Stadium for a workout in early October, but didn't sign him. Kennedy, from Penn State, was a first-round draft pick (No. 12 overall) of the St. Louis Rams in 2003.

Chicago's defensive front has been depleted with injuries to Dusty Dvoracek, Anthony Adams, Antonio Garay and Darwin Walker. Dvoracek, Adams and Garay are out for the season.

The Bengals made Toeaina (pronounced "toe-EE-nuh") the 187th overall pick of the 2007 NFL draft. The club was fortunate that he cleared waivers after being released on Sept. 1, and he was signed on Sept. 2 to the eight-man practice squad, where he remained until Wednesday.

For Bengals' observers, losing Toeaina brings back ugly memories of the club losing defensive tackle Kelly Gregg.

The Bengals picked Gregg in the sixth round of the 1999 draft. He landed on the practice squad until the Philadelphia Eagles signed him that December.

Gregg has been a force in the middle of the Baltimore Ravens' defensive line since 2001.

Losing Toeaina forces the Bengals to bolster their weak defensive line in 2008 via free agency and the draft.

Toeaina leaves behind his two best friends — Samoan teammates Domata Peko and Jonathan Fanene — in Cincinnati.

Toeaina's salary jumps from $4,700 per week (practice squad) to $13,500 per week on the Bears' active roster.

[kingwilly]

wow. just catching up on this.

I guess you play with fire, you can get burned. If the Bengals had a sense he was going to be snatched, they could have reacted. If it is the case where they had notice and chose not to activate/promote him and cut someone else, then this seems to be a poor decision as Thornton and B-Rob will not be here next year and we are carrying some other dead wood on the team right now (Lawrie, Rucker, scab LB's). Is this a mistake that a dedicated GM would make? maybe. It happens in the league quite often to teams that have GM's, too.

Mr. Toe will probably do very well on that Bears D, given the supporting cast. Good luck to him.

[HairOnFire]

Jones, Dhani - if he wants to stay they would be dumb not to try to keep him

Agreed, but Jones may treat this season as an extended audition and move on quickly. In fact, the recent bits about him biking to practice and games included a mention that he rarely leaves his hotel room and stays late at PBS because he hasn't found anything to do in River City. Hard to guess if he'll stay out of loyalty or leave for a city with more museums and coffeee houses featuring beatnik poetry. (Snaps fingers.)

Manning, Roy - who?

Maxwell, Jim - who?

Mays, Corey - who?

I mentioned this immediately after Mays was signed, but it warrants repeating. Several of the players added are exactly what the Bengals look for in regards to special teams, and if kept might prevent next season from being a repeat of what we witnessed at the beginning of this season.