Frustrated by this "Bad Character Draft"

[Wraith]

I keep reading things about all the "bad chacters" the Bengals have drafted.

Nolan Nawrocki from Pro Football Weekly just posted his "draft grades" http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/NFLDr.../teamgrades.htm. In it he says that the Bengals continued to ignore character issues by drafting Jerome Simpson, Pat Sims, Mario Urrutia, and Jason Shirley. Now, Shirley's issues have been well documented (and mocked) on this forum. I havn't heard ANYTHING about character issues for any of the other guys. I know Sims got dinged by not being commited to football after he took his year off. I have heard nothing but good things about the character of Simpson and Urrutia.

Is this irresponsible reporting or is there something about these guys I don't know about.

Florio posted something similar on Pro Football Talk although he said he could not confirm anything on Collins or Sims just that they were flagged as character risks.

[HoosierCat]

Yeah, I saw that and rolled my eyes, too. Simpson doesn't have any character issues, that's probably a typo on Nawrocki's part, he probably meant Collins. Collins and Urrutia had some team discipline issues, basically they are still kids, they're coming out early, so they got flagged. Urrutia was arrested once when he got into a scuffle with a cop during a picnic in a park, but that was before his freshman year. Sims issues with his half-sister's death and him quitting the team are well-known, they don't worry me. Hell, in the same situation I might have fallen apart for a while too. Shirley's the only one with anything approaching serious character questions, and he appears determined to put them behind him, so we'll see.

[Wraith]

does the rest of the league expect us to hurt our team by only drafting players that were parented by Ward and June Cleaver? All this negative attention for drafting one fifth round risk? Hardy was drafted in the second he has two domestic violence charges, Stanford Keglar, Carl Nicks, Mario Manningham, Aqib Talib all have had issues as bad or worse than Shirley and they were all drafted ahead of him, I just do not understand all this.

[HAPPYJAQ]

I keep reading things about all the "bad chacters" the Bengals have drafted.

Nolan Nawrocki from Pro Football Weekly just posted his "draft grades" http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/NFLDr.../teamgrades.htm. In it he says that the Bengals continued to ignore character issues by drafting Jerome Simpson, Pat Sims, Mario Urrutia, and Jason Shirley. Now, Shirley's issues have been well documented (and mocked) on this forum. I have heard ANYTHING about character issues for any of the other guys. I know Sims got dinged by not being commited to football after he took his year off. I have heard nothing but good things about the character of Simpson and Urrutia.

Is this irresponsible reporting or is there something about these guys I don't know about.

Florio posted something similar on Pro Football Weekly although he said he could not confirm anything on Collins or Sims just that they were flagged as character risks.

I've read somewhere that Simpson had an incident where he responded with profanities to some heckling fans in a conference tournament game, in which he was NOT suspended. Urrutia had some similar situations here in Louisville and did not get along with the coaching staff here, which is part of the reason (I would assume) that he decided to come out early. No off the field stuff, though. By my estimations, a reporter with nothing new to report on the Bengals front, so he decided to stir the pot a little (see: irresponsible reporting).

[HoosierCat]

For anyone interested, here's Collins' "character issue," from an interview with The Sporting Exchange:

On being benched for three plays before the Kansas game against Toledo last season:

"I was suspended for the first series of the game because we were going through conditioning drills the week of the Toledo game, and the leader that I am, I felt I needed to let coach know everybody was dying, everybody was tired, and I guess I said the wrong things to him, he felt.

"He sent me to the locker room, and five minutes later, I went to his office and apologized, wrote a letter, and we were cool ever since then. He just wanted to show the young kids what not to say."

Wooo. Scary.

As for Urrutia, nfl.com has this note:

He also was benched for inconsistent play, as he had a rash of dropped balls and that frustration boiled over to several personal foul penalties that forced the coaching staff to keep their valuable offensive weapon on the sidelines through a disappointing season for the Cardinals.

Lock up your daughters, Cincy!

[bengalspride1219]

http://draftseason.com/Draftgrades

Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals were wise to use their first pick on the defensive side of the ball with OLB Keith Rivers. He will give that defense a much needed spark. The Bengals then were maybe preparing for life without 85 as they landed a couple of nice receivers in Simpson and Caldwell. Pat Sims was a great pick in the third, and Anthony Collins was a steal in the 4th. The only question mark was why they would take a guy like Jason Shirley who has some serious character concerns, when they are already known for having a lot of dysfunctional players.

FINAL GRADE: A

like this grade better

[Wraith]

The problem is he liked everyones draft except for Detriot.

[skyline]

Fair or unfair, this is just something we're going to have to deal with for a while.

No big deal. I'm used to being slammed on simply for being a Bengals fan

[cincyhokie]

Seriously. F*** em. F*** em all. Nobody thinks we're doing crap this year. Everyone's handed the division to Cleveland. And whether or not they drafted Shirley, fans and media across the country already have a "bias" against the Bengals. I think it's going to be a fun year. Let's sit back and let the media say what they want. Hell, ESPN draft experts already have us drafting #5 in 2009.

[ChadJohnson-85]

Seriously. F*** em. F*** em all. Nobody thinks we're doing crap this year. Everyone's handed the division to Cleveland. And whether or not they drafted Shirley, fans and media across the country already have a "bias" against the Bengals. I think it's going to be a fun year. Let's sit back and let the media say what they want. Hell, ESPN draft experts already have us drafting #5 in 2009.

Word^

[COB]

Seriously. F*** em. F*** em all. Nobody thinks we're doing crap this year. Everyone's handed the division to Cleveland. And whether or not they drafted Shirley, fans and media across the country already have a "bias" against the Bengals. I think it's going to be a fun year. Let's sit back and let the media say what they want. Hell, ESPN draft experts already have us drafting #5 in 2009.

Bias is the right word. I read one draft wrap up that said, "The Bengals never learn." Do the folks who write some of this stuff ever read anything? Do they even follow the NFL?

I credit ESPN for repeatedly putting a graphic on the screen when the Bengals were picking that noted their 42-38 record under Marvin, then listed the miserable losing record for the previous 7 or 8 seasons. I suspect that if you asked most "sportswriters", they'd opine that the Bengals were losing badly under Marvin.

It's a separate issue from the character question, but they're related. Since a lot of these writers don't know what they're writing about, they just put us down as a thug team that loses all the time. Neither characterization is accurate anymore, but discovering that would require research. AKA work. Easier to just recycle old bulls**t, wag their finger and cluck at those bad, bad Bengals.

Funny how the media genuflects at the altar of his highness, Bill Parcells, because he can turn losing teams around. I submit that Marvin Lewis turned around a franchise more mired in losing and misery than anything Parcells has taken on. Not that any dumbass at Sports Illustrated or ESPN would ever notice.

[BengalszoneBilly]

Fair or unfair, this is just something we're going to have to deal with for a while.

No big deal. I'm used to being slammed on simply for being a Bengals fan

It could be worse. Some people are already banging hard on the Cowboys for signing Pacman. :lol:

[jjakq27]

I credit ESPN for repeatedly putting a graphic on the screen when the Bengals were picking that noted their 42-38 record under Marvin, then listed the miserable losing record for the previous 7 or 8 seasons. I suspect that if you asked most "sportswriters", they'd opine that the Bengals were losing badly under Marvin.

It's a separate issue from the character question, but they're related. Since a lot of these writers don't know what they're writing about, they just put us down as a thug team that loses all the time. Neither characterization is accurate anymore, but discovering that would require research. AKA work. Easier to just recycle old bulls**t, wag their finger and cluck at those bad, bad Bengals.

Funny how the media genuflects at the altar of his highness, Bill Parcells, because he can turn losing teams around. I submit that Marvin Lewis turned around a franchise more mired in losing and misery than anything Parcells has taken on. Not that any dumbass at Sports Illustrated or ESPN would ever notice.

Parcells deserves his share of credit because he has two Super Bowl rings and playoff births with four different teams. However, his record in Dallas was eerily similar to Coach Lewis' during the same time period. Not sure what that all means but perhaps Marvin deserves more credit since he is working for Mike Brown and not Jerry Jones.

And we all know that old stereotypes dies hard. Good or bad. I don't put a whole lot of stock in guys that aren't really that close to the situation so most of it is just a rehash of the same old stuff. So one guy gets drafted with a record or a questionable background and anybody can tell you the sky is falling whether they really know anything or not. It's an easy cheap shot. But someone like Florio for example (as much as I hate to admit it) has a track record of being pretty close to the mark on things so that gives him some credibility in my book.

Marvin Lewis

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/LewiMa0.htm

2003-2006

35-29 regular season

0-1 playoffs

Bill Parcells

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/ParcBi0.htm

2003-2006

34-30 regular season

0-2 playoffs