Reggie Myles

[jditty47]

i doubt we even miss him unfortunately.

[buck3y3d]

We'll never know how bad he was off the field, but by looking at on the field issues, this was a horrible move.

[BengalszoneBilly]

From the sound of your quote, you have excluded Kim Herring. I'll tell you this, Herring looked awesome in training camp this summer. He may be getting up in the years, though. What do you think, guys?

Well if Deion "Primetime" Sanders can still play at 38 years of age, (as we'll see for ourselves on Sunday against the Ravens) then there's relatively no reason to think Kim Herring can't do the same at 30. As long as a defensive back still has a bit of explosive acceleration left in his wheels to stay with his man in coverage, then all his years in the league are an advantage. Not a hinderance.

Besides, it's rare a defensive back lasts that long in the league to begin with, as their injury rate is the highest among all positions in football, as this article from the Pittsburgh Tribune Review addresses in detail.

Defensive backs face highest rates of injury.

By Carl Prine; TRIBUNE-REVIEW

In an NFL filled with Lions, Bengals and Bears, the most endangered species might be the defensive back.

It's the most dangerous spot on the field. In 2000 through 2003, NFL data showed that the highest injury rates belong to cornerbacks and safeties. Nearly seven of 10 DBs are hurt every year, according to the NFL's weekly injury reports.

For those who get hurt, half will suffer another, unrelated injury before the season ends. They also sustain the highest rates of the injuries most likely to be catastrophic; 102 defensive backs have suffered brain concussions or neck and spinal injuries during the past four years.

"With as many hits as we take, as much pain as we have after the game, it kind of scares you a little bit, you know?" said Eric Brown, a seven-year safety for the Houston Texans. Players, managers and NFL executives all point to two factors that make defensive backs so vulnerable: their size and their job description.

Cornerbacks or safeties, who must be fast to hang with receivers, are predators watching their prey outgrow them. Since 1943, the average NFL player has super-sized himself 25 percent in body mass. But the DB is barely bigger than his World War II counterpart, who averaged 6 feet and 187 pounds. Today, same height, with a mere 8 pounds of extra weight.

And now the DB faces a trend in the NFL for taller, thicker and faster wide receivers such as the Steelers' Plaxico Burress (6-5, 225) and the Minnesota Vikings' Randy Moss (6-4, 210). "You're trying to tackle a man who weighs, what, 230? 240? Most of the time, we're hitting tight ends, guys weighing 250, 260. And they tell us we have to hit these guys the same way? We're giving up 40, 50 pounds?" Brown said. To compensate for his lack of body mass, a DB generates great speed before hitting a rusher or wideout. The collisions often come in midair.

"You don't have time to put yourself in the position for the perfect tackle," said Oakland Raiders safety David Terrell. "Pretty much, you're thinking, 'I've got to get this guy down.' Or hit him as hard as you can. I mean, it's a violent sport and most guys don't think about that when they tackle. They just throw their bodies around."

Players like Terrell learn from youth leagues on to keep their "neck up" when tackling. Lowering their heads runs the risk of fracturing spine and neck bones. Broken vertebrae have given the league two paralysis cases over the past 30 years, Mike Utley and Daryl Stingley. At the same time, however, DBs are expected to go for the ball and force turnovers. They try to create fumbles by turning their helmets, necks and trunks into a human bottle openers, prying the pigskin loose.

Their helmets often act like the tip of a spear, a 4-pound bludgeon pinning the ball against the receiver's trunk and breaking his ribs. In fact, wideouts suffer the most rib trauma in the league -- 35 over the last four years, according to NFL injury reports. Not surprisingly, DBs suffer a third more head, neck and spine injuries than their fellow players -- and are 26 percent more likely to sustain a concussion -- but report no fractured ribs.

Medical experts point to those anomalies and worry DBs are taking too many risks with head-first contact. In March, the National Athletic Trainers Association asked the NFL to better enforce rules outlawing head-down contact, or "spearing." Spearing is a unique rule in football because, properly enforced, it's the only penalty designed to protect the player committing the foul. In any given game, 40 or more hits might meet the NFL's definition of spearing because of now routine head-down contact, according to the athletic trainers' studies of game film.

"That's what we're trying to fight, this idea that somehow head-down contact has been ingrained as part of the game, that it's part of football, and that nobody can do anything about it, and when it does happen, it's a 'freak accident' that wasn't preventable," said Jonathan Heck, athletic training coordinator at Richard Stockton College in New Jersey and a co-author of the trainers' report.

The problem for DBs is that game films say they're four times more likely to lead with their heads than the players they're hitting, so they will accrue the most penalties and fines. "Pretty soon, I don't even think they're going to keep safeties around," said Brown, the Houston player. "I think they're going to get rid of us. It's to the point where they don't even need us there anymore."

[CantStop85]

Quite frankly, I won't miss his penalties and locker room fights at all...oh yeah, or his 7 tackles.

[bengalbutch]

I like the guy, but his production has really fallen off this year. I met him in training camp, and he was a super nice guy ( treated my child GREAT ! ) Marvin know what he is doing, and Tab Perry has really played well on special teams this year.

[walshfan]

Word is that Patrick Body really knows the system now and has made allot of progress as a defensive back..He'll be a backup to KK...

That coupled with the dropped production in special team play and erratic behavior of Myles led to the change....

[AMC]

Hobson's reasoning for the Myle's cut was as good as any....He basically said it's a combo of things...Tab as gunner, not signed for 06, etc...

[schweinhart]

Don't let Kim Herring read that report

The only thing he hasn't injured yet is his head and he didn't look or sound too much inclined to want to either. Can't say I blame....look at Rogers Beckett.

I wonder what the Bengals will do about Herring next year? He's due $1.2 mill next year w/ a $1.5 mill cap hit. Setting him free should save about $600k in cap. He's already had the shattered forearm and now a torn up shoulder on top of -- IIRC -- thinking he was brought to Cincy to play deep at FS rather than up at strong at all.

As for this year, Myles is no real loss. Maybe Body gets a shot at gunner over Walter and Greg Brooks or a shot at 3rd safety or 5th CB. In all likelihood, though, he'll proly be right where he most likely should be -- inactive.

No matter.....This year it's the Keanu and Ohalete Show!

[jjakq27]

Hobson's reasoning for the Myle's cut was as good as any....He basically said it's a combo of things...Tab as gunner, not signed for 06, etc...

I think Caleb Miller's return from IR is a boost to the special teams unit as well. There probably won't be a big dropoff without Myles.

[HoosierCat]

I wonder what the Bengals will do about Herring next year? He's due $1.2 mill next year w/ a $1.5 mill cap hit. Setting him free should save about $600k in cap. He's already had the shattered forearm and now a torn up shoulder on top of -- IIRC -- thinking he was brought to Cincy to play deep at FS rather than up at strong at all.

As for this year, Myles is no real loss. Maybe Body gets a shot at gunner over Walter and Greg Brooks or a shot at 3rd safety or 5th CB. In all likelihood, though, he'll proly be right where he most likely should be -- inactive.

Yup.

As for Herring, IMHO he's nothing special...but so far I haven't seen anyone (read: Ohalete) who has made a case for being his replacement.

[AMC]

IMO Herring is gone. Safety will be a highlight of the offseason!

Myles release is simply a result of more negatives than positives. Whenever you bring that to a team you are history, I guess, in Marvin's eyes.....

Have we really stepped back and realized the CHANGE in attitude and play since Marvin arrived???? When you think about it, it is astounding! Lets not lose that focus....

That said, Body and Herana-Daze have THE CHANCE OF A LIFETIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[derekshank]

Marvin's style has always been to create as much competition as possible at every single position. Unfortunately, the level of competition at SS has been pretty low by the standards of the rest of the NFL. Hopefully though, Body will be able to make Ohalete at least play a little better in order to keep his job.

I'm not a big Ohalete hater. He's starting, so he better than anything else we have... but it would be nice to have a a true NFL starter there next year. KK is the only man we have on the roster will be able to do that, and even he is a marginal starter.

[jjakq27]

Hobson's take yesterday from Bengals.com.

http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=4855

"Bauman looks assured to play Sunday again against the Ravens with Myles gone. Unlike Myles, the Bengals like to use Bauman on defense, where they value the 5-8, 185-pounder’s ability to be physical in the slot and the running game. The emergence of rookie wide receiver Tab Perry as a gunner on punt teams and Bauman in other coverage spots also made Myles expendable following his Nov. 17 altercation with defensive lineman Carl Powell.

Myles did have an excellent day in Baltimore in punt coverage three weeks ago, when the Bengals held B.J. Sams to one return. Sams is second in the NFL averaging 11.8 yards per return. Wide receiver Kevin Walter is also a gunner, and he'll have to play well to repeat the performance against Sams.

Lewis wouldn’t comment Friday when asked if the fight with Powell, which came in full view of an open locker room media session, was a factor in Myles’s release. But it’s clear the coach has been frustrated at times dealing with the emotional Myles long before the incident. The most public display came in the second game of the season against Minnesota when Lewis grabbed him on the sidelines after Myles was flagged for a 15-yard penalty on special teams.

Some players said Friday that the Bengals locker room is full of enough veterans that they doubt Lewis cut Myles to send a message.

“It was probably one of those business decisions. In this league, you have to get used to that,” said cornerback Keiwan Ratliff. “I don’t think that a decision was based on (the fight), or else every guy who got in an altercation would be released and that’s not the case.”

Myles, who led the team in special teams tackles in 2003 and was second last year, wasn’t as prominent this year. He’s tied for sixth with seven teams tackles with kicker Shayne Graham. Myles joined the Bengals as a free agent out of Mississippi in 2002, and became one of the few Dick LeBeau special teamers to make Lewis’s Bengals. With Friday’s move, 14 players who were with the 2002 Bengals in some form are still here. Another factor in the equation could also be that Myles is unsigned for 2006. "