Jonathan Joseph was the last of the nine Bengals players to be arrested this past year. On January 22 he was pulled over, the officer smelled something marijuana, and Joseph told the officer he was carrying.
In his Super Bowl backpack, which is as good a place as any I suppose.
Joseph was in court last week in Boone County, Kentucky, and the judge went pretty easy on him since he's a first time offender. Joseph will be allowed to enter a diversion program that's only available to first timers, which means he'll be doing some community service or completing an educational program (where perhaps they teach people to not keep weed in the car?).
I wrote a while back about Deltha O'Neal and Joseph leaving Bengals practice to eat lunch together, and that O'Neal probably wasn't the best influence for the young Joseph, what with his DUI and lackadaisical play and all. Hopefully I'm blowing it out of proportion, but the Bengals obviously have to implement a team culture where stuff like this just isn't acceptable. Joseph seems like a good character guy who's never been in trouble before which makes you wonder about the influences other players have had on him.
My job writing about the Bengals this offseason seems to mostly consist of legal proceedings what with the Bengals mostly sitting out of free agency. Deltha O'Neal is the latest Bengal in court, and he received a 30 day suspended sentence for driving drunk on December 9th.
He also was fined $250, forced to pay $1,000 to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, put on probation for three years, and had his license suspended for the next six months, although he'll be allowed to drive to and from work.
O'Neal took things like a man, apologizing to the court, and saying that "as a father of three small children, he realized the need to be more responsible". That's good to hear.
Deltha took most of last season off, so maybe this'll also help him realize the need to be responsible with regards to his profession. He was a big help in 2005 and it'd be pretty huge if he could be anywhere near that good again. O'Neal's always been a hard player to figure out, but maybe this ordeal will mature him a bit.
Or not, but I'm going to go ahead and hope, since that's kind of the point of the offseason.
Kind of a weird situation in Kansas City with Trent Green, and it's getting stranger. Green had his sit down with GM Carl Peterson yesterday, and Peterson informed Green that the Chiefs wanted to restructure his deal.
That, combined with the fact that Green's not even assured of the starting position, has led Trent to explore other possibilities.
The team told him they were fine with that, but that "it does not mean they are trying to peddle him nor does it mean they intend to release him." So the Chiefs aren't actively shopping him, and they're not going to release him, but if he finds a taker they're open to trading him. I'm not sure exactly how that works, as far as what the Chiefs would be getting back, but there are quite a few teams out there that would make sense for Trent Green.
Oakland is probably the most obvious, but it's tough to see the Chiefs helping out a division rival, especially when it's the Raiders.
The Chiefs signed Napoleon Harris today for six years and $24.5 million, with $7.5 million guaranteed.
Harris was a first rounder for Oakland back in 2002, but Rotoworld makes the excellent point that two linebacker poor teams have now given up on Harris in the past five years. Kansas City will be throwing him into the starting middle linebacker position, replacing Kawika Mitchell, despite never having really shown the ability to be a competent starter in the NFL.
This is a guy who'd probably be a really solid reserve player (or even a decent weakside starter), not someone to whom you want to give a truckload of money.
Len Pasquarelli says that Harris is a perfect fit for Herm Edwards Cover 2 defensive scheme, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me since Harris is leaving the Vikings, a team that also plays the Cover 2. Minnesota made pretty much no effort to keep Napoleon around, which kind of says it all I think.
A.J. Nicholson, the Bengals 2006 fifth round pick, was sentenced today to 60 days in a sheriff's work program, as well as two years probation.
Nicholson was in trouble for stealing $1,700 worth of electronics from the apartment of a teammate last May. It's tough to understand theft to begin with, but it becomes even harder to understand when the guy doing the stealing was just drafted into the NFL.
A work program is generally an alternative to incarceration, and unless Nicholson gets to talk to school children or something he'll soon be picking up trash on the side of an interstate somewhere in Ohio. I could make a joke here about how he'll still be wearing an orange uniform, but I'll refrain.
There was a lot of talk about the long layoff between the Ohio State / Michigan game and the Rose Bowl and BCS Title game, and it's looking like the Big Ten might actually do something about it.
Lloyd Carr has been the biggest proponent of moving the game to the first week of December, but Jim Tressel really isn't a fan of the idea:
"I wouldn't like at all the option of playing the week after Thanksgiving, because I think that's one of the things that's a real plus when you play in the Big Ten as a studentathlete is you train all summer long and you know you play a hard season.
"But you know what? You're going to have a Thanksgiving (at home). And for as hard as our guys work, I think that's a real plus for them. I wouldn't want to kick the season backwards."
As a fan I could really care less. I certainly wouldn't be opposed to seeing Ohio State's season extended a couple of weeks since it would make the season feel longer, but in the end the amount of football I get to see won't change unless a game is added somewhere.
Tressel makes a great point that Thanksgiving at home is a great bonus for the players, but in the end the Big Ten will probably have to make a move, and I'm not sure this is the one to make. At some point won't a Big Ten title game make sense? I realize that it'd be a terrible move tradition wise, and I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but I can't help but be excited thinking about the possibility. Big Ten basketball finally caved in to having a league tournament. Football will eventually do something similar when it comes to a title game, and I think the league will be better for it.
The 2007 recruiting season just ended, and it didn't take long for the 2008 season to get under way. The Buckeyes received their first commitment on Friday, and fittingly, it's a kicker.
Ben Buchanan is his name, and he's apparently the top rated kicker in the Midwest (by Rivals), and possibly one of the best kickers in the country.
Around the Oval points to a great post over at Buckeye Planet talking about Buchanan's appearance at a kicking came called "Buckeye Kicking Academy" last summer. Buchanan competed as both a punter and field goal kicker and managed to win both. It took a 60 yarder to win the field goal competition, which would be impressive for an NFL kicker, let alone a high school kid. His kickoffs went through the back of the endzone as well, which is great to hear.
Ohio State has an incredible kicking tradition, and it sounds like Buchanan will eventually continue that. Tough to tell at this early date, but he sounds like a great signing.
Kelly was drafted by the Falcons back in 1999, and played four years for them. He then left for Cincinnati, where his role changed significantly. Atlanta seemed to want Kelly to be a pass catching tight end, while he's mostly blocked for the Bengals. The Falcons drafted Kelly in the second round, and I think they kind of saw him as a bust by the time he left the team. The tide has turned though, and I think Kelly would be a good fit for the Falcons running game.
Reggie Kelly is one of the more selfless players in the NFL and he's also an excellent locker room presence. Carson Palmer has publicly stated that the Bengals need to bring him back, leading me to believe he'd help the Falcons if he signs. Guys like this don't get a lot of press, but you'll inevitably find quite a few Reggie Kelly types on the rosters of playoff teams and Super Bowl champs.
The Bengals resigned Kenny Watson to a three year deal on Friday, which has to make you think that Chris Perry isn't being counted on for the 2007 season.
Watson is a solid third down back who does a lot of little things well. He's also an excellent special teams player, something that Marvin Lewis really seems to love from the non-marquee players. It's a smart move, because I'll be shocked if Perry is ever healthy enough to make a difference again.
This signing continued the Bengals focus on resigning most of their own free agent players, and a Bengals spokesman confirmed on Friday that the club had no outside free agent visits to confirm, which is a shame. Injuries had a lot to do with the Bengals troubles this past year, so they might not need an influx of players as much as other fringe playoff teams, but that doesn't mean a big free agent signing wouldn't have been helpful. That's never been owner Mike Brown's way of operating though, and he's apparently not changing now. My guess is that the Bengals will resign a couple more of their own free agents (Kevin Kaesviharn, maybe Reggie Kelly and Anthony Wright), possibly sign a lower tier free agent or two, and that'll be it.
That's the way the Bengals do things, and yet I find myself disappointed every single free agency season anyway. You'd think I'd know better than to hope for an Adalius Thomas type signing by now, but apparently not.
Analysts everywhere seem to be falling over themselves to praise the Browns signing of Eric Steinbach, but I just have to wonder when it became smart to sign a guard for that kind of money? I'm guessing the Browns see him as a center or left tackle, but that's a little bit of a risk to take for seven-year, $49.5 million contract, with $17 million in guaranteed money on a guy who's mostly played guard in his four year career.
Steinbach is good, and maybe I still have a grudge against the guy for blowing the play where Kimo Von Fatass fell on Carson Palmer's knee, but I'm not terribly sorry to see him go, and I'm glad the Bengals didn't spend that kind of money to keep him around. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I would have preferred keeping Justin Smith to Eric Steinbach and that I'm glad it turned out that way.
Andrew Whitworth is going to fill in for Eric Steinbach very well, and the Bengals line is deep enough overall to absorb a loss like this. Cleveland is rebuilding the right way, by being obsessed with their offensive line, but I can't help but be surprised by the money here.
Jonathan Joseph was the last of the nine Bengals players to be arrested this past year. On January 22 he was pulled over, the officer smelled something marijuana, and Joseph told the officer he was carrying. 
My job writing about the Bengals this offseason seems to mostly consist of legal proceedings what with the Bengals 
Kind of a weird situation in Kansas City with Trent Green, and it's getting stranger. Green had his sit down with GM Carl Peterson yesterday, and Peterson informed Green that the Chiefs wanted to restructure his deal.
The Chiefs signed Napoleon Harris today for six years and $24.5 million, with $7.5 million guaranteed.
A.J. Nicholson, the Bengals 2006 fifth round pick, was sentenced today to 60 days in a sheriff's work program, as well as two years probation.
There was a lot of talk about the long layoff between the Ohio State / Michigan game and the Rose Bowl and BCS Title game, and it's looking like the Big Ten might actually do something about it.
The 2007 recruiting season just ended, and it didn't take long for the 2008 season to get under way. The Buckeyes received their first commitment on Friday, and fittingly, it's a kicker.
The Falcons have 
The Bengals resigned Kenny Watson to a three year deal on Friday, which has to make you think that Chris Perry isn't being counted on for the 2007 season.
Analysts everywhere seem to be falling over themselves to praise the Browns signing of Eric Steinbach, but I just have to wonder when it became smart to sign a guard for that kind of money? I'm guessing the Browns see him as a center or left tackle, but that's a little bit of a risk to take for seven-year, $49.5 million contract, with $17 million in guaranteed money on a guy who's mostly played guard in his four year career.
