FanHouse Reggie McNeal

One of the most intriguing prospects in this weekend's NFL draft is West Virginia quarterback Pat White. A sensational athlete, White dominated the Big East during his college career and enters this weekend as a man without a position. Can he overcome his lack of size and succeed as a quarterback in the NFL? Will he became the latest quarterback-to-wide receiver project and follow in the footsteps of players like Antwaan Randle-El? Or will he bring back the "Slash" position, combined with the recent fad that is the wildcat offense, and become a unique weapon that gives opposing defensive coordinators fits?

Earlier this week, Ryan Wilson passed along the information that former New York Giants head coach, Jim Fassel, was in such dire need to get back into coaching that he would be willing to take on the task of leading the Oakland Raiders. He even, reportedly, wrote Al Davis a hand-written letter expressing his desire to coach the silver and black.

Frankly, if there's any truth to that report, Davis should probably strike while the iron is hot and hire somebody, anybody, that is willing to work for him. If he doesn't, Fassel has another potential option, one that's familiar to guys who can't find work in the National Football League.

Canada.

Current Bengals Who Have Been in Trouble at Some Point

• Ahmad Brooks: Accused of punching a woman in the face
• Chad Johnson: Sued for his part of an alleged "bogus raffle"
• Dhani Jones: Arrested for "failure to obey a lawful command". He refused police orders to stop dancing in the street outside a South Beach nightclub.
• Jonathan Joseph: Marijuana possession
• Deltha O'Neal: DUI
• Frostee Rucker: Vandalism and spousal battery while in college
• Jason Shirley: Drove drunk and crashed his car into an apartment building while in college

Former Bengals Who Got In Trouble While With the Team

• Chris Henry: Speeding, marijuana possession, driving without a license, waving a gun at people, providing alcohol to minors, misdemeanor assault and property damage. He once was suspended for eight games for violating the NFL's conduct policy.
• Matthias Askew: Arrested (and acquitted) for disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, failure to comply with a police officer's order, obstructing justice
• Reggie McNeal: Drug possession, resisting arrest
• AJ Nicholson: Burglary, grand theft, vandalism, domestic assault
• Eric Steinbach: Boating under the influence of alcohol
• Quincy Wilson: Arrested at a wedding for disorderly conduct
• Odell Thurman: Is coming off a two-year suspension for violating the NFL's conduct policy. He was picked up for a DUI in Ohio. He was also accused of assault in Georgia but the complaint was dropped.

This isn't a post as much as it is a running page to document some of the difficulties this Bengals organization has had.

Reggie McNeal was the Bengals sixth rounder, a quarterback out of Texas A&M. The Bengals had little intention of using him as a QB though, and they converted him into a wide receiver.

Cincinnati coaches defended the pick by lauding McNeal's athleticism, and I thought it might be a good idea to use a player like McNeal as a special teams player (kick returner?) / third quarterback. That'd give a 53 man roster some nice flexibility since the third string quarterback is usually something of a wasted position. That didn't happen in 2006 though, and the Bengals haven't said anything that leads me to believe they'd head in that direction with McNeal so that idea has to be taken off the table when discussing McNeal as a draft pick.

Reggie barely saw the field this year, spending most of the season inactive. He also got into some legal trouble (he was one of the eight Bengals arrests) and seemed to hang out with bad influences such as Odell Thurman and Chris Henry.

The Bengals have had the draft philosophy of taking the best player available under Marvin Lewis, but McNeal shows where that method has it's drawbacks. The Bengals didn't need a wide receiver in the 2006 draft as they have an extremely deep group of receivers. It's possible they were drafting McNeal as a kick returner, but that would still be an odd pick since McNeal played quarterback in college.

It's rare that a team gets much out of it's late round picks, but it still stings a little when a player produces as little as Reggie McNeal produced in 2006, especially combined with the arrest and poor decision making. If he's truly a great athlete he may redeem himself in the future, but for now it looks like McNeal is a complete bust.

My grade for the Bengals 7th round selection: F

Proving that it's probably a good idea to know all the facts before passing judgement, I'm now not so sure Reggie McNeal's transgression was all that serious. The Enquirer had a more detailed account of the incident, and apparently the police officer that McNeal elbowed in the chest wasn't in uniform.

The cop told McNeal that the club was closed. Reggie started running his mouth at that point and got in the cop's face, at which point the police officer decided to arrest McNeal for public intoxication. Despite the fact that he was off duty and not in uniform.

I'm certainly not going to argue that Reggie McNeal wasn't out of line here, but it's not all that surprising that an off duty cop is going to face some resistance when trying to arrest someone, and it's not all that hard to imagine that McNeal didn't even realize the guy was a police officer. Hopefully we'll hear more about this in the coming days, but if this was a lone incident and not compounded by all the other Bengals miscues this season, I'm not sure I'd think it was such a big deal.

More: McNeal absent following arrest - Cincinnati Enquirer

Real simple: cut/and or suspend/fine his ass, ASAP. It's absurd that a player of McNeal's ability feels like he has the leeway to get in trouble with the law after seeing what's happened with Chris Henry and Odell Thurman. And Eric Steinbach. And assorted other players not worth discussing.

Right when the team has nothing but good buzz around it, McNeal decides it's a good time to go clubbing and hit a cop. Brilliant. You'll remember that McNeal was in the car with Chris Henry when Odell Thurman got the DUI that led to his one year suspension, so it's not as if this is a first time offense. He's shown himself capable of stupidity in the past.

Reggie's specifically charged with resisting arrest. He apparently didn't like an answer a police officer gave him with regards to a club being open for business, so he, ya know, hit him in the chest.

He'll be in court on Friday, and hopefully suspended by Saturday.

Marvin Lewis announced today (after previously saying he wouldn't decide until this weekend) that Chris Henry will be playing on Sunday.

Antonio Chatman was placed on injured reserve, ending his season.

Lewis really had no choice but to play Henry. The Bengals are extremely thin at wide receiver, with either Reggie McNeal or Ethan Kilmer serving as the third receiver if Henry were to miss more time. McNeal is new to the position, and Kilmer was drafted as a special teams player, so neither are really good options.

Activating Henry makes the wide receiver position a position of strength again instead of a weakness.

One thing I'm a bit puzzled by is the Chatman to the IR decision. Reports seemed to say that he had a mild groin problem, not something you'd normally think would end a season. With the shortage of healthy wide receivers you'd think the Bengals would have kept him active, but maybe it was more severe than originally presented. Or maybe the Bengals are going to go out and sign somebody comparable to Chatman, like Peter Warrick.

More: Chatman to IR; Henry will play Sunday - Mark Curnutte's Blog

Marvin Lewis said yesterday that when it comes to Chris Henry he will "make that decision come Sunday".

The Bengals are incredibly thin at wide receiver. They're down to Chad Johnson, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Glenn Holt, and Reggie McNeal, with Antonio Chatman questionable for Sunday.

No offense to Peter Warrick, but if they're bad off enough to consider bringing him in then I just don't see how you don't play Chris Henry this Sunday. Henry is one of the best #3 receivers in the NFL, and the Bengals are 3-0 this year in games he started. That kind of stat can often be misleading, but in Henry's case I'm not sure it is. He was hugely responsible for the win against the Steelers, and the Bengals offense was much more fluid and efficient in the wins against the Browns and the Chiefs with Henry on the field.

Henry has served his suspension, plus a one game team imposed suspension. If Kelley Washington were healthy then sure, I could see sending a message, but the Bengals need Chris Henry on the field against the Falcons. I just hope Marvin Lewis sees it that way.

More: Henry back practicing, but fate is unclear - Cincinnati Enquirer

It's really pretty ironic that a team that had one of the deepest wide receiver units in the NFL is now down to three healthy bodies.

Chad Johnson, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and Antonio Chatman. That's everyone who's going to be healthy and able to play for the Bengals on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers.

Chris Henry? Suspended for one more game.

Kelley Washington? Out indefinitely.

Tab Perry? Out indefinitely.

Reggie McNeal is the only other wide receiver currently on the 53 man roster, but he's been inactive for the past three weeks. I'm guessing he'll be active this Sunday and serving as the fourth wideout.

I think Bengals fans better get used to a .500 record through the first six games, because I think it's going to take some sort of miracle for the Bengals to pull out a win this Sunday with all the injuries they've suffered in recent weeks. Hopefully they can hover around the .500 mark for the next two or three weeks while people get healthy, but things have really turned sour amazingly quickly.

I'm not sure what's up with AFC North quarterbacks and their appendixes, but Anthony Wright's apparently went bad this morning.

He had to undergo an emergency appendectomy this morning, and presumably won' t be available for the next few weeks. Doug Johnson becomes the number two quarterback, which should strike fear into all of our hearts.

The Bengals currently don't have a number three QB, but Reggie McNeal could play it in case of emergency, so long as he's active. I'm pretty sure he wasn't suited up for the last game, after going out partying with Odell Thurman and Chris Henry.

I'm thinking that Carson Palmer might want to go ahead and get his appendix removed this coming offseason, just to be safe. Can't hurt.