What Is Wrong With The Bengals?

If you are not in tune with the Cincinnati Bengals and their most recent events, Chris Henry has been released.

Here is another sampling from last year.

So what is up with this team? In large part due to them and others like Adam (think of the old video game) Jones, Joey Porter to name a few, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell last year instituted a new conduct policy to help control off-field behavior by its players and preserve the league's public image. As if! But while I agree in general about the need to get tough on players who get out of line, Goodell has been very inconsistent to say the least.

As it relates to the Bengals, they have appropriately earned their stripes. If the Bengals have invested in a professional scouting department instead of the bare bones amateur operation that they have now, a lot of this would have been avoided.

Paying a scout $30,000-$50,000 or whatever they pay these guys is well worth the investment when you consider the players make six figure and seven figure salaries with big signing bonuses. It doesn't do any good to have to pay a player for sitting in jail, suspended or what have you not to mention the headaches and distractions associated with it.

These coaches spend 90+ hours a week (yes you read that right!) preparing for the next week's game. They don't have time to go to college games on Saturday and evaluate, watch film, interview their coaches, watch more film and all the other numerous tasks a scout does. A scout can do background checks, dig deeper about a players work ethic, academics, how they act around coaches and players, respond to criticism, etc...

Until the Bengals invest in scouts and a General Manager (not Pete Brown or Jim Lippincott sigh!) who knows what he or she is doing, they will be constantly doing the Texas two-step
instead of moving forward to bigger things like division championships and Super Bowls. So, Mr. Lewis or Mr. Brown, if you are reading this, please contact me. I'm willing and able and looking for an opportunity. Why not do it with a team that I've been a fan of most of my life? That would be a dream come true.