Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer
When the New York Jets tossed Chad Pennington aside in favor of Brett Favre, the Miami Dolphins were happy to pick up the 32-year-old veteran and put him under center.
They were rewarded with a quarterback that finished second in the league's MVP voting, as the team completed one of the most improbable one-year turnarounds in NFL history, claiming the AFC East title one year after a forgettable 1-15 season.
Just over one year ago, I wrote this about the horrible Bengals draft of 2005. In 2008, the Bengals have tried their best to wash their hands of that weekend ... and have seen five of the seven picks leave this season for various reasons. Two were flat out released; one retired due to injury; two were not tendered contracts.
Combined, these seven guys have played just 140 (out of a possible 448) games in the orange and black ... with Chris Henry (35) and Eric Ghiaciuc (32) the only ones to top twenty games. None played in all 16 games this past season -- only two played more than half the year. Three didn't suit up at all.
1st Round [#17]-David Pollack, LB, Georgia: Pollack had an unfortunate neck injury in Week 2 against the Browns in 2006. Despite trying to attempt a comeback, he retired earlier this year. He's played in just 16 games since being drafted. Status: Retired
2nd Round [#48]-Odell Thurman, LB, Georgia: Thurman was to be the focal point of the Bengals defense, before he was suspended for the first four games of the 2006 season for violating the league's substance abuse policy. A few weeks into the season, he was charged with OVI [operating a vehicle while impared]. Two days later, the league suspended him for the remainder of the season (the suspension would continue through 2007). He's played in just 16 games since being drafted and was released yesterday. Status: Released.
3rd Round [#83]-Chris Henry, WR, West Virginia: Look, we all know the deal here. He's a very productive player but can't stay out of his own way. He was suspended for Bengals' first 8 games of the 2007 season and could face a stiffer penalty if some recent off-field issues come back to bite him. He had played in 35 games for the Bengals before being released this offseason. Status: Released.
Mark Curnutte reported on Monday that Bobbie Williams, out with appendicitis, should be back this Sunday against the Raiders. Stacy Andrews has been Williams replacement, and he's done an excellent job of it, but having Williams back is certainly a good thing. He participated in practice yesterday, so it seems as if it's a lock that he'll be starting.
Other injury notes:
Kelley Washington, Brian Simmons, and Deltha O'Neal all practiced. I can't wait to see O'Neal and Washington back on the field, particularly Deltha. The Bengals defense will only get better when he returns.
Eric Ghiaciuc is off crutches and said to be doing better. My guess is that Ben Wilkerson will play this Sunday, and then we'll see Rich Braham back for Indy in two weeks, but that's only my guess. If the Bengals get Braham back for the final three games that'd certainly be a big boost.
Tab Perry said his hip injury isn't as bad as Bo Jackson's, so yeah, that's good news.
Last year I honestly think the Bengals peaked a little too early, but we might be seeing the reverse this season. The Bengals have been playing their best football of the year lately, and they seem to be getting healthy right on time.
The injury reports obviously come a little earlier this week with the Thursday game, so let's get right to things. Here's who's banged up heading into Baltimore Week ...
John Thornton is doubtful with a knee injury that he suffered on Sunday. No, not during the game, during pre-game warm-ups. That's pretty much how the Bengals roll this season. He actually has a fairly impressive consecutive games streak that's probably going to end Thursday. Thornton's played in 59 games in a row.
Levi Jones is still out. Maybe next week.
Bobbie Williams is also still out. Should be awhile for him still, but I'm pretty happy with the way Stacy Andrews has filled in.
Rich Braham has been elevated to questionable, and could actually play on Thursday night. This one could be huge.
Deltha O'Neal is questionable. It'd really help if he could play, since that would probably mean a little less of Tory James on the field.
Kelley Washington is also questionable. I'm hoping he comes back fairly soon, because Cincinnati's fourth wide receiver is an undrafted free agent at the moment. I don't have anything against Glenn Holt, but I'd rather see Washington doing that job.
Sam Adams is probable, but not practicing, which is standard operating procedure for him. He might want to consider practicing so that he'd be a little less of a fat ass, but whatever works I guess.
Brian Simmons is probable, which is huge. The linebacking corps has been absolutely decimated this season, and getting Simmons back into the rotation can only help.
Just to illustrate how bad off the Bengals are this year, the Ravens injury list features three players, all of whom are questionable, but all of whom will almost certainly be on the field Thursday night. Three injured players against eight, and that's not even counting all the guys on IR (Tab Perry, Chris Perry, Bennie Brazell, Antonio Chatman, Frostee Rucker, David Pollack, etc. etc.) The Bengals are incredibly fortunate to even have a shot at the playoffs with the bad injury luck they've had this season.
Quite a bit of news coming from the Bengals today.
- Tab Perry's hip injury, which is keeping him out for the rest of the season, is being compared to Bo Jackson's. Obviously not good news, and it would really be terrible if Perry's career was in jeopardy. He was a great return guy for the Bengals last season, and I always thought he had the potential to be a decent number two or three receiver if given the chance.
- Chris Henry was still not activated, but the Bengals aren't in any rush to get him back on the 53 man roster. He's a roster exemption until Monday. Obviously you'd expect the Bengals to do something before then though, especially if he's to play on Sunday.
- Marvin Lewis made it sound as if Peter Warrick wouldn't be signed, saying that "the team works-out players every Tuesday and that they didn't bring Warrick in to sign him now".
- Rashad Jeanty wore cleats today for the first time in weeks, and he's questionable for Sunday. Antonio Chatman is also questionable, which I think is pretty good news for a guy who had his junk abused last Sunday.
The latest bad news concerns Tab Perry, who was injured returning a kick late in the win against the Cleveland Browns. It was a hip injury and Perry's been on crutches since then.
The Bengals decided to place Perry on injured reserve on Friday, effectively ending his season. This not only hurts the Bengals on special teams, it also hurts them at wide receiver. Tab Perry would've been awfully useful right now with the Bengals down to three healthy receivers.
Cincinnati did add a receiver on Friday though, adding Glenn Holt to the 53 man roster from the practice squad.
If anything good comes out of this, I hope it's that Marvin Lewis will recognize the value in benching your starters late in a blowout game. There was no reason for any starters to be playing late in the game against Cleveland. The game was well in hand, making Perry's injury pretty useless.
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.
The first injury report of the week was released today, and I was waiting for it to see how guys have healed up through the bye week.
Here's what we're looking at for Sunday:
Dexter Jackson and Rashad Jeanty are both questionable and neither player has practiced.
Sam Adams and Levi Jones are both probable, but neither practiced on Wednesday.
Rich Braham and Tab Perry are both still on crutches, and more won't be known about these two for at least another couple of weeks.
Something I find a little weird is that I haven't heard a thing about Chris Perry. He's eligible to come off of injured reserve, but I haven't seen one item about him in any of the newspapers or on the official Bengals website. It'd definitely give the offense a boost to get him back healthy.
For borderline guys like Jeanty and Jackson I hope they'll take all the time they need to heal. Tampa Bay, like any NFL team, is certainly good enough to pull off an upset on their home field, but realistically they're a team that the Bengals should be able to beat, even with some key players on the sidelines. I doubt that Dexter or Rashad would be enough to make a difference either way this Sunday, so it might be good for them to just sit out another week.
It's now official, the Bengals will be missing at least four players Sunday against the Steelers.
Rich Braham, Dexter Jackson, A.J. Nicholson, and Tab Perry are listed as out. Rich and Dexter aren't surprises, but A.J. and Tab are, at least somewhat. Tab Perry seems to be hurt much worse than what I initially suspected, and he's apparently going to be on crutches for the next couple of weeks.
In slightly better news, Levi Jones is listed as probable. As long as he can go I don't think the offensive line will be too much of a problem, although it'd certainly be preferable to have Braham at center against the blitz-happy Steelers.
Tab Perry is normally the kick returner, so Kenny Watson will probably be taking over for him. Reggie McNeal could also potentially return kicks.
T.J. Houshmandzadeh is still questionable, and I think he really needs to play if able. The Bengals are all kinds of banged up, so I don't know how I feel about this Sunday. The Steelers offense looked pitiful on Monday night, but there was nothing wrong with their D. Everyone's been talking all offseason about the Bengals depth, and I just hope they truly are a deeper team than they have been in previous years.
Reggie McNeal was activated today to take the spot of David Pollack, who's out for the season.
McNeal was the last roster cut for the Bengals, and the only player from their 2006 draft class to not make the 53 man roster.
I'm kind of surprised not to see center Ben Wilkerson brought up from the practice squad, but I guess the Bengals feel good with Steinbach being the backup center. Levi Jones being able to play against the Steelers probably made this decision a little easier.
Tab Perry, Antonio Chatman, and T.J. Houshmandzadeh are all banged up to various degrees, so it's not out of the question that McNeal could actually play significant minutes on Sunday. Who knows, maybe the injury to Pollack will have a silver lining if McNeal can impress.
Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer
Just over one year ago, 
Mark Curnutte reported on Monday that Bobbie Williams, out with appendicitis, should be back this Sunday against the Raiders. Stacy Andrews has been Williams replacement, and he's done an excellent job of it, but having Williams back is certainly a good thing. He participated in practice yesterday, so it seems as if it's a lock that he'll be starting.
The injury reports obviously come a little earlier this week with the Thursday game, so let's get right to things. Here's who's banged up heading into Baltimore Week ...
Quite a bit of news coming from the Bengals today.
It's just not been a good week.
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.
The first injury report of the week was released today, and I was waiting for it to see how guys have healed up through the bye week.
It's now official, the Bengals will be missing at least four players Sunday against the Steelers.
Reggie McNeal was activated today to take the spot of David Pollack, who's out for the season.
