The Bengals today signed free agent WR Chris Henry.
Henry (6-4, 200; West Virginia) is a fourth-year NFL player. He rejoins the Bengals after being released by Cincinnati on April 3 of this year. He played in 35 games with 11 starts for Cincinnati over the 2005-07 seasons, with 88 receptions for 1370 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Henry will be on a four-week NFL suspension to open the 2008 regular season, due to violation of the NFL's Personal Conduct Policy.
Henry is eligible as of today to join whatever team preseason activities are assigned to him by the coaching staff. He is eligible to play in the final two preseason games. His suspension will begin on Mon., Sept. 1, the start of the practice week for Cincinnati's Sept. 7 regular season opener. During the suspension, he will be held out of practices as well as Games 1-4. He may resume full activities on Mon., Sept. 29, the start of the practice week for Game 5, on Oct. 5 at Dallas.
A player with a history of off-field problems, Henry was released by the Bengals this spring after being charged with assault following an incident in Cincinnati. But charges against Henry were dropped after a trial resulted in a hung jury, with six of eight jurors voting to acquit him. Henry has no further matters pending in the courts.
The NFL placed Henry on indefinite suspension following the assault charge, but the suspension was subsequently revised to four games.
One piece missing from this release is the usual comment from the coach, Marvin Lewis. Every other release involvling player movement has some type of coach reaction. Not this one. That is telling, and it reeks of Mike Brown being an idiot again.
Alan Cutler, meanwhile, defended the decision. He said it was all about winning and that Henry gives us a better chance to win. Hmmm, I guess the first four games are cakewalks? Check the schedule. I don't think so. Also, defense and lack of tackling are the main problems. Is Chris Henry going to play Dline or linebacker? Is he going to replace Leon Hall and show us how to cover the deep ball? Hmm? Obviously, Cutler came to the radio this morning fresh from a kneepad session with Bengals owner Mike Brown. Cutler will berate the Reds, run solid citizens out of town, but he will shill for Mike Brown til the cows come home. Well, Cutman, let's see what people are saying about the move, shall we, you shill and morally bankrupt jocksniffer:
The head coach got trumped by an owner with a forgiving heart and a poor track record for assembling football teams. Marvin Lewis might coach the Bengals. He doesn’t run them.
That was Paul Daugherty, award winning reporter for the Enquirer and fellow sports talk host
But wait, there is more:
Chris Henry back to Cincinnati? Really? I guess Marvin Lewis isn't calling all the shots in Bengals-land.-Don Banks, CNNSI NFL writer
They can't be this stupid, can they?"
-NFL agent cited on Lance McAllister's blog
ProFootballTalk.com
That the Bengals would so quickly embrace Henry, even on a one-strike policy, tells us that, in Cincinnati, principle always will yield to the desire to win. It's precisely why the team has been infested by so many turds over the past several years.
Daugherty also says: It's hypocritical, fraudulent and lacks integrity.
If we had a class organization, they would not have a shameless idiotarian hack who kisses rear like Cutler on the air as the host of the Bengals radio network. If we had a class organization, we would stick to our guns. Both Brown and Lewis had this to say as late as July when the talk about resigning Henry was brought up:
ESPN, July 22
Marvin Lewis
"I'm not interested," Lewis told reporters Tuesday, before the team's annual preseason luncheon. "I don't think it would be productive for our football team. You have to be a productive part to be an NFL player, and there's responsibilities to being an NFL player. It's a privilege, it's not a right. There's a lot that comes with being an NFL football player."
Mike Brown
"That's all history now," Brown said. "We're going forward and trying to go forward with the kind of guys we can count on, the kind of guys who are not just good players but good citizens."
Marvin also said on July 27: We keep spending all this time on the knuckleheads instead of on the good guys; that's a problem," Marvin Lewis said. "When you spend all your time coaching knuckleheads and not spending the right amount of time with the right players in the right direction because you're putting out fires over here, putting out fires over there ... ."-Bengals.com, July 27
This tells me that Mike Brown, moron and proof the apple can fall off the planet, galaxies far from the tree, slapped his coach and cut his legs off to sign a thug and scumbag. Nice work, moron. Here is some video evidence of Brown lying.
And Alan Cutler makes excuses and talks about how this gives the Bengals a better chance to win...Again, will Chris Henry make a tackle? Will Chris Henry be able to stop the deep ball? Can Chris Henry play offensive line and give Palmer some time to pass? Will Henry not screw up again so he can actually show up and play? The answer to all but the last question is no. The answer to the last is: I dunno. Somehow someone who thinks taking a toke or being a thug is more important than their job and their family and livelihood is going to be a best chance to win. Cutler is so stupid and a shameless shill it should be embarrassing to HOMER 1530, much less Cutler's family. He calls Lance McAllister soft, but I bet Lance doesn't have a set of Mike Brown kneepads for everytime the subject comes up. Cutler is stupid.
Then, he had the audacity to compare Chris Henry to Josh Hamilton, like we owe it to Chris Henry....Uh, no, moron. Josh Hamilton lost his right to play baseball and had to work his way back. He had to prove he was clean and his life changed. Or, as Lance put it on his blog:
Did I miss something?
Chris Henry=Josh Hamilton?
Did Chris Henry get booted from the game for three years, change organizations, pee in a cup, stay clean and out of trouble for 18 months? Had the Reds been burned by other player's behavior? Wow...don't pull a hammy with that stretch.
Lance, Cutler can't pull a hammy, because he is a self-appointed fitness expert, remember? And you are just jealous because you are soft and he is so "hardcore"...Uh, yeah, right.
We don't owe Chris Henry a damn thing. The guy crapped away his chance. Playing football is a privilege, not a right. What has Chris Henry said or done to show he realizes he screwed up? Also, let's look at his stats when he played last year:
Year Age Tm Pos G GS Rec Yds Y/R TD Lng R/G Y/G Att Yds TD Lng Y/A Y/G A/G YScm RRTD Fmb
2005 22 CIN wr 14 5 31 422 13.6 6 47 2.2 30.1 422 6 2
2006 23 CIN 13 4 36 605 16.8 9 71 2.8 46.5 605 9 0
2007 24 CIN 8 2 21 343 16.3 2 52 2.6 42.9 343 2 0
Career 35 11 88 1370 15.6 17 71 2.5 39.1 1370 17 2
So last year he appeared in 8 games, and had 321 yards...woohoo. Yeah, that is a difference maker.
What does this do to the coach in the locker room, or the enforcement of discipline? Once again, the lunatics are running the nuthouse. Nice work, Brown. I am done with this franchise. The Bengals have sucked for 20 years, absent the aberration in 05. It is not worth your effort to support a team that takes your money, lies to you, and spits in your face. Bengals fans need to wake up, and not only not go, not support any new stadiums, but volunteer to pack up the semis and move this team out of town and demolish that stadium. It is a complete joke.
And having a person of no integrity, a shameless shill, call others soft and say we are liars for not admitting we really want Chris Henry, is an embarrassment to 1530 HOMER. Alan Cutler is soft when it comes to the Bengals, but he is softheaded on everything. He was run out of Pittsburgh, and he must have some good blackmail material in Lexington, because he keeps getting a paycheck there. We know what he does to keep his job in Cincy...and it ain't pretty.
And what is most sad is some people will put up with this, because they will believe this idiot shill who says it gives the Bungles a better chance to win. How did they do with Chris Henry? One winning season. Wow, a real difference maker. NOT! The Bengals are a bunch of losers, and it starts at the top with the Brown Family.
David Fulcher is not impressed with this. Neither is Eric Thomas, and I am sure Anthony Munoz, a man of deep integrity and the greatest Bengal ever, is probably shaking his head. All these guys actually won with the Bengals. One hell of a birthday present, eh Munoz?
I stand with Lance McAllister on this one:
Chris Henry returning is par for the course for this organization.
If it wasn't so sad, it would be hilarious.
So much for it being a privilege, not a right to play in the NFL.
So much for being tired of wasting time on knuckleheads.
So much for needing guys you can count on.
This just in.....the Bengals are a fraudulent organization.
But I think many are missing the biggest issue in all of this.
Mike Brown called this shot....and in doing so...sapped what little power/control Marvin Lewis had left. But shockingly, rather than be horrified of that fact, many fans will celebrate the return of a thug.
As for the fan reaction...it simply comes down to what you want to say about yourself. How badly you need to win? Are willing to sell your soul while shaking hands with the devil?
As some point today the words and phrases, "holier than thou" and "sanctimonius" will be thrown around. If preffering not to house a criminal that can't stay out of trouble with the law and can't be counted on is "holier than thou" and "sanctimonius", then I'm guilty as charged.
Book me and process me. I'll put my head on the pillow and sleep soundly tonight.
Have some pride as a fan.
If Chris Henry is the answer...what exactly is the question? A desperate and incompetent organization chose to resign a troubled WR that can't play til week five.
A WR that will miss 25% of this season....after missing 50% of it last season.
So much for privilege, accountability and dependability.
Rather than hiring a GM, drafting better and spending more on scouting, Mike Brown chose to try and polish a toy that he repurchased at a garage sale.
Par for the course. A gimme putt.
I am now a free agent football fan. I root for the Packers and the Jets (as long as Favre is there.) The Bengals, Brown Family, and Alan Cutler can go to hell. Heck, they came back from there this morning to make this announcement after shaking hands with the devil and selling the last microsliver of a soul they have.
Me, I will remember when the Bengals won with integrity and talent. The 1980s when they were playoff contenders quite a few years and went to two Super Bowls. Sad that the Bengals will sell Chris Henry jerseys but don't carry Ken Anderson jerseys at all, a man who was honest and one of the most underrated QBs ever.
Hey, fans of Cincinnati, Marvin Lewis, and Alan Cutler, Mike Brown just sang this song to you:
So Bengals fans, how does Mike Brown's @$$ taste? Alan Cutler probably knows, because he kisses it at least 10 times a day.
