FanHouse OdellThurman

Man, what a month to be a Bengals fan.

I'm not going in order here -- just gonna start anywhere:

Chad Johnson: After a spring and summer of him mouthing off, he gets into camp with an ankle problem. After finally getting that taken care of (and calling out Michael Phelps ... oh, and wanting to change his name to "Ocho Cinco"), he dislocates his shoulder that puts his season in jeopardy.

T.J. Houshmandzadeh: All this while T.J. Hows-ya-mamma is nursing his hamstring. The injury has been highly criticized around Cincinnati as T.J. just milking it so he doesn't have to practice or play in the preseason (judging by what's happening around the league, it isn't a bad move). Housh is in the final year of his deal, which points more fingers at what he's doing.

Chris Henry: With their receivers banged up, the Bengals signed Chris Henry for help. This has really pissed off Bengals fans to the point that ... well, if they haven't given up their tickets by now, they never will. Henry has yet to practice and will be suspended for the first four games on the season.

There is no more man in Cincinnati that is more sure of himself than Marvin Lewis (Pete Rose owns the lifetime achievement award, however). He is the Teflon Don around these parts.

In an interview with the Bengals official site, Lewis talks about expectations, underachievement and being on the hot seat ("You don't really believe that, do you?").

"We keep spending all this time on the knuckleheads instead of on the good guys; that's a problem," 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 ... ."

Despite some rough edges still around (uh, 85), the team did do a lot to shed some of the "knuckleheads" from the roster. Chris Henry and Odell Thurman are both gone after repeated run-ins with the law that led to NFL-mandated suspensions.

Lewis swung his weight even further when he told owner Mike Brown that he didn't want a cheaper Chris Henry back ... despite Brown's willingness to bring him in.

Usually when I am critical of the Bengals organization, three things come to mind: their lack of a real scouting department, their inability to judge character and the wasting of draft picks.

If you noticed, all three things involve how they bring in personnel.

It happened again as the Bengals released RB Kenny Irons, a second-round pick from Auburn. Yeah, this was a fluke bad pick since Irons blew out his knee in Cincy's first preseason game in 2007 and failed the team's physical ... but it adds onto the pile of high end picks that aren't with the team anymore.

The Bengals have already rid themselves of Irons (2nd round, '07), David Pollack (1st round, '05), Odell Thurman (2nd round, '05), Chris Henry (3rd round, '05), Keiwan Ratliff (2nd round, '04), Madieu Williams (2nd round, '04), Caleb Miller (3rd round, '04) and Landon Johnson (3rd round, '04). Those names add into all those previous blown picks like Peter Warrick, KiJana Carter, David Klingler, etc.

Yeah, every team has bad picks and some of those names about had devestating injuries which kept their career from getting off the ground. Still, besides the 2008 draftees ... the Bengals have none of their 2nd round picks they've ever made on this roster.

Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall's busy-for-all-the-wrong-reasons offseason just got a little busier: last week, he spent more than two hours in NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's office explaining why he's such a screw-up.

The purpose of the meeting was not to discuss the Broncos' chances of rebounding from back-to-back disappointing seasons. Of concern was the list of Marshall's off-field troubles that grew in the past year.

Goodell is expected to announce a decision next week on whether he will suspend Marshall, and if so, for how long.

In March, Marshall put his arm through a television while wrasslin' with family members, and he's also been the subject of three domestic violence calls in three months. Despite the obvious character concerns, head coach Mike Shanahan calls Marshall a "real good kid," and Marshall agrees (when he's not claiming to be the victim of a shakedown).

Ultimately, it'll be up to Goodell to decide Marshall's immediate fate, although Shanahan doesn't think the third-year wideout should be suspended because, according to the Denver Post, "most of his troubles stem from a stormy relationship that has since been terminated." Goodell offered Dig Dug Jones temporary reinstatement this offseason, so there's a chance Marshall gets a reprieve.

Of course, with Odell Thurman and Chris Henry perpetually in trouble, even after serving long suspensions, maybe Goodell wants to make an example of Marshall. If there's a silver lining -- assuming Marshall has to sit out for a few games -- he's been such an underachiever in his young career the Broncos probably won't miss him. So there's that.

Former Bengals linebacker Odell Thurman has been arrested and in custody of the Monticello Police Department in Georgia.

He is is accused of breaking a man's jaw at an Ohio waterpark in May. Thurman is awaiting extradition hearing to send him to Erie County police.

Word is that the fight was over a place in line. It isn't clear if Thurman jumped the line or the 19-year old man. Either way, it doesn't look good for Thurman, who just served a two-year suspension by the NFL and is on another, indefinite, one.

The article does have some very interesting news. According to MyFoxCleveland.com, Thurman was also picked up for stealing his brother's car and driving drunk this past May. He got caught up with the DUI, but his brother didn't charge him with stealing his car.

Fellow FanHouse-r Ryan Wilson earlier discussed the notion of the Bengals looking at bringing back Chris Henry. Henry has had his assault charges dropped and could, maybe, see his NFL suspension lifted.

There have been reports locally that have the Bengals warming up to the idea of bringin him back.

NO!!!!!!!

As Ryan said in his post, I do get what the team is thinking ... talent-wise. No one has questioned his on-the-field ability (which wasn't the reason he keeps getting suspended or cut). It is off-the-field ability to keep finding himself in these messes. Just because he scraped by this time doesn't mean he's learned his lesson and get on that straight and narrow path.

Remember, this is a franchise that felt they needed to move on from these naughty players when the cut Chris Henry and Odell Thurman. Of course, that philosphy went down the tubes when they drafted a guy who drunk drove his car into an apartment complex just a week later.

Despite being indicted by an Erie Country grand jury, former Bengals linebacker Odell Thurman does have one guy in his corner. His friend and former middle school coach, Evern Williams, told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that Thurman wasn't even in Ohio during the incident.

"He wasn't within three states of Ohio then," said Evern Williams, who coached Thurman in middle school and counseled him through high school and college, and continues to have regular contact with him. According to Williams, acquaintances of Thurman's were at the park, but Thurman was still in Georgia.

"It's just an example of what happens when you have the kind of reputation [Thurman] has," Williams said. "It's what happens when people associated with him were there and it's assumed he was, too."

I'd like to believe Mr. Williams ... but it doesn't add up. Why would Thurman be indicted by a grand jury if he wasn't even at the scene of the crime? And how would the victim know that the people he got into it with were associates of Thurman? Did they play the "do you know who are friend who isn't here is" card?

The article also says that Thurman's agent hasn't been able to find his client. Maybe he should check three states away.

This is rich. Lions head coach Rod Marinelli has some advice for rookie third-round pick Kevin Smith. According to Pro Football Weekly:

... Marinelli had stressed to him numerous times following the draft and during rookie minicamps that he must stay out of trouble. Some teams red-flagged Smith as having a character question during the draft-evaluation process after Smith reportedly missed or chose to skip one team's scheduled private workout with him. Expect Marinelli's message for his rookies - to stay out of trouble - to be echoed throughout training camp.

Marinelli might want to also think about dropping this knowledge in February and March to coaches, scouts and front-office types as the Lions make draft preparations. Just a thought since the team's first-round pick, Gosder Cherilus, just received a year's probation after being charged with assault and battery in a bar fight while still in college, and second-rounder Jordan Dizon getting arrested for a DUI the week before the draft.

Maybe I'm reaching, but the 2008 Lions are starting to look a lot like the 2006 Bengals. Marvin Lewis, trying to chance the culture of ineptitude in Cincinnati, took a chance of players with "character issues," and the move would eventually blow up in his face. The Lions are very familiar with ineptitude, and maybe the 2008 draft is an example of how Marinelli plans to change that.

Sometimes these things work out (look at Dig Dug Jones!), sometimes you end up with Chris Henry and Odell Thurman. Detroit could go to a "we're only drafting guys with records from here on out" roster-building philosophy, but they'd still have Matt Millen, which is the biggest obstacle between the Lions and the "something other than laughingstock" label.

ESPNews is reporting that former Bengals WR Chris Henry will be suspended for the 2008 season. Henry, who currently isn't on anyone's roster, was suspended for the first eight games of 2007 due to a variety of off-field incidents.

This is the second Bengals player that had been suspended in the past ... then let go from the team after the suspension was lifted ... to be suspended for the upcoming season. Odell Thurman got the same treatment when he was given a season-long suspension earlier this week.

Henry is currently on house arrest, even though he has lost his home. He was cut by the Bengals two months ago after a week-long run of weirdness ... which included assault, getting unruly in a club and getting arrested.

Again, Henry isn't signed with any team, so all this announcement does is keep any team from going after him. He is still "free" to sign with any team, but both parties will know that he cannot suit up until, at least, the 2009 season. Even then, you run the risk of his suspension getting extended and/or him getting into more trouble.

UPDATE: Word is that Henry's suspension could be lifted if he is acquitted of his latest run-in with the law, an assault of a Cincinnati man.

Last week, it was revealed that ex-Bengals linebacker Odell Thurman violated the NFL's substance abuse policy and would be suspended indefinitely. Word has come down that the suspension will be for at least one season, causing him to miss the entire 2008 season.

This will be the third straight season that Thurman will miss. He was suspended for the 2006 season after violation the league's substance abuse policy (plus a drunk driving charge); the suspension was extended for the entire 2007 season after commish Roger Goodell gave Thurman's reinstatement the thumbs down.

He eventually was granted reinstatement this past April and seemed ready to get on with his football career. Less than a month later, however, the Bengals cut Thurman as he was mourning the loss of his grandmother.

At that time, the timing seemed a bit off. The team claimed that they had asked Thurman to be at a workout (he wasn't there) and they let him go. With him burying his grandmother, it did seem like a cold move. However, maybe the team knew about this missed test or positive test and went ahead and cut ties with him.

That could be the case since Thurman's agent seemed content with the Bengals explaination to releasing Thurman (most people felt that he had a good cause to file a greivance with the players association). Speculation grew that there may have been some you-don't-file-a-grievance-and-we-won't-rat-you-out-so-you-can-find-a-new-team agreement between the sides.