Thurman to be released? Merged

[TJJackson]

It is sad he couldn't get his stuff together.

I've heard Odell stories before, always pointing the blame to anyone except Odell, so I have serious doubts that this is a case of the team not giving Odell time for the funeral and related issues

That said, to Agreen and Thurmanation and your ilk - you backed the wrong guy. Period. We told ya so.

I hope this heralds Brooks moving back to MLB

[mgilgris]

I agree we do not know what we had with odell after the suspension but why cut him now when we honestly do not know how he will do in real games/practices/ or at least 11 on 11 drills. A lot of linebacker is instinctive, maybe he lost a step, maybe he didnt but we will never know. I think the bengals almost owed it to the fans to hold onto him until it was obvious that the guy could not play anymore. If you were going to cut him for his baggage. Do that Right after the draft not now... dumb, stupid, idiots. Do the bengals think this is going to make them look better to other teams and their team policies???? If anything this move makes the team look worse. Let the guy get arrested, keep him, then cut him at a time right after his grandma passes away.... boy that makes you look great in the eyes of the league.

[Kazkal]

I hope this heralds Brooks moving back to MLB

Agreed,It's his natural position theres no reason to mess with him moving around if odell is gone,The whole reason always felt he should play SLB before this was we had odell but we no longer do .....I feel what marvin is saying because he felt odell should been back in cinci today but same time when both of your parents are dead and then your grandma dies theres things to take care of for odell

maybe he lost a step, maybe he didnt but we will never know

Maybe we will,if this is the only reason odell was cut i'm sure another team will be willing to give him a shot like the giants or saints.....that would be F'd up if the saints got him

[mgilgris]

With our luck Brooks will be on his way to his own little suspension.... then we will pick up the water boy and start him

[TippCityRick]

I agree with those who say there's got to be more to this story. If before the draft they had a feeling Odell wasn't going to cut it, I believe they would have drafted more than one LB. And I'd be surprised if it had anything to do with the OTA's. The Bengals have always been very open about letting players take care of home business when it's necessary. I'll be watching the wires over the next few days. Just a guess but I bet Odell missed another appointment.

[jonf45uk]

God knows whats going on, but they're gonna need a hell of a lot of help to achieve anything with this dwindling defence.

Puts a lot of pressure on Rivers...

jon

[GregCook]

With our luck Brooks will be on his way to his own little suspension.... then we will pick up the water boy and start him

Brooks is still having groin problems got to wonder what he'll contribute this year even if he doesn't mess up off the field.

Hey got to wonder what Chad is thinking. How Henry and Odell got to lucky?

[HairOnFire]

Just a guess but I bet Odell missed another appointment.

Or they didn't like the things they read in the most recent report filed by Joe Gumshoes, Private Investigator.

Pure speculation of course, but if I'm standing where the Bengals find themselves I most certainly hired someone to tail Thurman each and every occasion he returns to Georgia....funerals included.

[Kirkendall]

And, apparently, consider this a message delivered to the team.

Yea. Don't have a death in your own family or you'll be disciplined. Ridiculous, sure. Is that what other players are thinking of their own front office and coaching staff? Y'all tell me.

[Kirkendall]

That said, at least we can move on and stop wondering. They really are serious about putting the past behind them, it seems, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

That's the fishy part. If that were true, this story happens months, if not years, ago.

[membengal]

And, apparently, consider this a message delivered to the team.

Yea. Don't have a death in your own family or you'll be disciplined. Ridiculous, sure. Is that what other players are thinking of their own front office and coaching staff? Y'all tell me.

Nope. That there are limits to what even the Bengals will take.

Do you really think if CP missed last week to deal with a family member's funeral they react the same way? Of course not. Thurman bought himself the strict scrutiny thanks to his own actions. He had to be 100% in compliance, I would guess, for them to begin to trust him. 100%. When he wasn't, he was gone.

I don't really have a problem with that. It was the bed he had already made that he was lying in...

[membengal]

That said, at least we can move on and stop wondering. They really are serious about putting the past behind them, it seems, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

That's the fishy part. If that were true, this story happens months, if not years, ago.

Mike Zimmer says "hi". New guy. Competent LB coach (and then some). I would guess he got enough of a look at Odell to say, "Not worth the trouble". Just a thought.

[Spor_tees]

I am guessing that something will come out later as a more competent reason as why the Bengals dropped Odell. Maybe after his grandmother's death he hit the bottle? Maybe something even stronger? Maybe the Bengals knew he was going to fail his next test and get suspended indefinitely anyway.

On the flip side, in past jobs I have worked, you get 3 days bereavement leave. If Odell's Grandmother past away on May 12th, and he is just now getting cut on May 19th...well it might seem a little heartless, but when it is a guy like Odell who hasn't played in 2 years and has to do everything he can to get back on the team, I would have guessed he would have been there.

Didn't Brett Favre play the day after his dad died? I mean that is just one example but players do it all the time. I mean you can look at things a couple different ways when someone dies...you can either sit and feel sorry for yourself, or you can go out and give your best and devote it to your lost family member...Odell seemed to take the latter approach and the Bengals didn't like it.

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

Mike Zimmer says "hi". New guy. Competent LB coach (and then some). I would guess he got enough of a look at Odell to say, "Not worth the trouble". Just a thought.

That's the thing though. You look at game film and he *is* worth the trouble. You look at the fact he's been pretty clean lately, and you figure he's turning it around. You stick with him through arrests, DUIs, possible alcohol/substance abuse problems, getting piked by the league, all that - and then you dump him when he needs two days to mourn the woman who raised him? Are you f**king kidding me?

Unless there's a lot more to this story, then the Bengals organization comes across as a bunch of inhumane douchebags.

[membengal]

He *was* worth the trouble, back then. But now? After two years off? He may have already been a long shot, given conditioning worries and all, and then he gives them further reason to not trust him?

Again, he sleeps in the bed he made.

[Kirkendall]

And, apparently, consider this a message delivered to the team.

Yea. Don't have a death in your own family or you'll be disciplined. Ridiculous, sure. Is that what other players are thinking of their own front office and coaching staff? Y'all tell me.

Nope. That there are limits to what even the Bengals will take.

Again, if that were true, then why wait until now? I'm sure the day before reinstatement would work. Why not the day after? Why not two weeks ago? Why not next week? Why now? Because he missed VOLUNTARY camps? Because it's a message? That message, if that were true, is now crumbled up at the end of the corner from disbelief with the fanbase AND from the players on the team thinking to themselves, "s**t, all the old school fans are right, they're pretty much a**h***s". Not saying either are true, but since we're mostly left to speculation and disbelief...

Which reminds of the WR in Minnesota who was going to be docked pay because he too had to go to a funeral of someone important in his life. The team changed their minds knowing all the negative press it received. But it's not like we worry about such things. In fact, we thrive on negative press.

[Kirkendall]

I am guessing that something will come out later as a more competent reason as why the Bengals dropped Odell. Maybe after his grandmother's death he hit the bottle? Maybe something even stronger? Maybe the Bengals knew he was going to fail his next test and get suspended indefinitely anyway.

I can accept the more to the story angle. But again, why release him now and not wait for said reports to come out that we're convinced are out there -- we're convinced because we can't accept the fact that the team would do this. If they released him for anything more than just missing workouts, then they'd be smart enough to wait until that became public to avoid the negative press.

[COB]

Just a guess, but Odell is probably drinking again. If the Bengals say "we're firing him because he's an alcoholic who can't stop drinking", they likely get to join the NFL as a defendant in the EEOC lawsuit Odell, I believe, still has pending against the NFL.

Instead, they're firing him for not showing up for work. Pretty common for alcoholics.

We've all been screaming for years, wanting the Bengals to change.

Well, they're changing.

[walzav29]

The Bengals don't want to look dumb again. I'm sure they seen something they didn't like. Let's say he had a beer (speculation) at the wake or something. That gets back to the team and him being an admitted alcoholic, why deal with it? It sucks for the team, but it's better to just cut bait. He is not a stable guy. I'm sure if you're in the Bengals shoes you want 100% attendance, and showing a real hunger after being suspended for 2 years. Think about that. There is alot of stuff that happend that we know nothing about, so I'm sure he screwed up something again. Let's move on. Henry and Odell are gone. It's over.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

He *was* worth the trouble, back then. But now? After two years off? He may have already been a long shot, given conditioning worries and all, and then he gives them further reason to not trust him?

Again, he sleeps in the bed he made.

Yep. And anyone who thought he'd have any sort of immediate impact were probably being too optimistic.

I'd say he'll have trouble ever making it back onto an NFL roster again at this point. He's obviously not dedicated still.

Curnutte's report states they were apparently also concerned with other things he hasn't really kept up with - most likely conditioning and reporting/communication issues I'm guessing, who knows.

But, I never really counted on him being a factor this year any ways.

[Kirkendall]

Just a guess, but Odell is probably drinking again. If the Bengals say "we're firing him because he's an alcoholic who can't stop drinking", they likely get to join the NFL as a defendant in the EEOC lawsuit Odell, I believe, still has pending against the NFL.

Instead, they're firing him for not showing up for work. Pretty common for alcoholics.

We've all been screaming for years, wanting the Bengals to change.

Well, they're changing.

Are they now? Didn't they draft plow through apartment Shirley. What about Purify? What about Herbert who was charged with holding his wife's head under water because of a freakin' cell phone bill?

OK, I'm not here to defend Thurman. I just find this incredibly dumb with the facts that we have -- not the suspicious of anything more to the story. But if this is a "message", then why do we keep bringing guys that need said message? No, nothing has really changed. We're just getting rid of the guys that were more visible in the press for five arrests and two year suspensions.

[Ickey44]

Marvin has wanted to be rid of Thurman every since he got suspended. I don't know what happened for him to finally get his wish, but they should have done it when he was reinstated. I know you can't cut a guy when he's suspended, so they should've done it then. Now, the whole country thinks that they cut him for missing voluntary workouts. Paired with all the other negative press this organization gets, why WOULD people want to play here? Much as I hate to say it, I'm starting to understand Chad's frustration. This is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard of.

[HoosierCat]

Marvin has wanted to be rid of Thurman every since he got suspended.

I suspect you're right. Like I said in a post a few weeks back, all the signals from Marvin over the course of Odell's supension have indicated that he was beyond deep in Marvin's doghouse.

All I know is that the talent level at LB just got thinner.

Per Curnutte's blog, at least 2 teams have already contacted Thurman's agents. Looks like he won't be unemployed for long...

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

He *was* worth the trouble, back then. But now? After two years off? He may have already been a long shot, given conditioning worries and all, and then he gives them further reason to not trust him?

Again, he sleeps in the bed he made.

Not to trust him? It's a *funeral* for the woman *who raised him*. If my employer told me I had to be back within a day or I was fired, I'd tell 'em to **** off too.

Now if someone has pictures of him snorting coke off a stripper, that's another story.

[mgilgris]

I guess the release does not dissappoint me as much as the timing. I am tired of defending our bengals to other teams fans. This is just more ammo.

We keep you for DUI's but release you for the death in the family???

There better be some underlying reason for this release. Otherwise, I hope almost hope Odell does sue.

Any freaking idiot would realize the connotations of releasing the guy right now. WHY NOT WAIT!!!