FanHouse Glenn Holt

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

It could be argued that the Cincinnati Bengals did well to win four games in 2008. They were missing their star quarterback, Carson Palmer, for the majority of the season. That left the job to an overmatched Ryan Fitzpatrick, who did his best, but was saddled with a bad running game, worse offensive line and not much defense. The Bengals found a way to win three straight at the end of the season, finishing 4-11-1.

There are many areas for improvement as the Bengals make their way toward 2009 trying like crazy to avoid doing 2008 over again. Luckily, kicker is not one of those areas of need.

Cincinnati Bengals kickoff returner Glenn Holt had a big game in Sunday's loss to the Bills, returning a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown.

But not everything was fine and dandy for Holt on Sunday. Here's how he explains what happened when some of his teammates got a little too boisterous in jumping on him after he scored:

"It was in celebration," Holt said. "The bad thing about it was Dhani Jones jumped and hit my helmet at the end and hit my facemask. I lost my two front teeth."

I've heard of kick returners getting hurt when their teammates jump on them in celebration -- Desmond Howard suffered a serious neck injury that way -- but losing your two front teeth seems particularly gruesome.

Holt isn't the first Bengal to lose his teeth this year; Chard Johnson lost his gold fronts when his helmet came off and his head hit the turf after he dove for a pass against the Steelers.

The more painful loss is that the Bengals lost to the Bills, 33-21.

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 just not been a good week.

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.

Because this is the most exciting news we'll probably get before Sunday, here's the list of players the Bengals signed to their practice squad:

• John Busing - Safety
• Ronnie Ghent - TE
• Eric Henderson - DE
• Glenn Holt - WR
• Nate Livings - OL
• Naufahu Tahi - FB
• Ben Wilkerson - OL

Reggie McNeal, the quarterback turned wide receiver from Texas A&M (pictured to the right), is expected to join the practice squad on Wednesday according to Bengals.com writer Geoff Hobson:

When the Bengals return to work Wednesday, wide receiver Reggie McNeal is expected back as the last member of the practice squad. On Saturday, head coach Marvin Lewis said the Bengals told him they wanted to develop him as both a quarterback and receiver, and that will begin Wednesday when the club continues preparation for Sunday's regular-season opener in Kansas City.

I'm really glad to see Tahi kept after his nice performance last Friday night, and it can't hurt to keep Wilkerson either. Wilkerson is a project that's never panned out, but you never know when something might click with him.

An interesting tidbit that I'd wondered about in the past: practice squad players are paid $4,350 a week according to this, which seems like a fairly decent amount of money for getting the opportunity to keep one foot in the NFL door.

Only five more days until we can focuse on slightly more important things. WHO-DEY!

More: Bengals sign seven to practice squad - Bengals.com

22 roster moves were made today, and there were some surprising names involved (although not as surprising as a few other teams moves - still amazed at the Detroit fiasco with Charles Rogers). From Mark Curnutte, the full list:

WAIVED: wide receivers Glenn Holt, P.K. Sam and McNeal, offensive linemen Nate Livings, Kyle Takavitz, Pete Lougheed and Wilkerson, tight ends Darnell Sanders, David Jones and Ghent, running backs DeDe Dorsey, Naufahu Tahi and Chris Manderino, defensive lineman Eric Henderson and safety John Busing.

PUP: tailback Chris Perry, defensive end Jonathan Fanene and offensive lineman Adam Kieft.

IR: wide receiver Bennie Brazell, cornerback Patrick Body and defensive tackle Marcus Lewis.

SUSPENDED: Linebacker Odell Thurman was officially placed on the "Reserve/Suspended by Commissioner" list for his second violation of the league substance abuse policy.

The names that surprise me the most here are Reggie McNeal, the Bengals sixth rounder from this past draft. McNeal was Texas A&M's quarterback, but the Bengals drafted him as a wide receiver / special teams player. The pick confused me then, and I guess it confuses me even more now. As deep as this team is at wide receiver I just don't understand why they wasted a draft pick on the position.

I'm also surprised to see center Ben Wilkerson cut. I'd always assumed he'd one day be the heir to Rich Braham, but I guess that won't be happening now. Eric Ghiaciuc kind of made him redundant. The Bengals also cut a couple of players who had impressive preseasons in Tahi and Dorsey, which is to be expected with how deep this team is.

I'm glad to see Bennie Brazell kept, I think he has a future in the NFL in some capacity. The guy's crazy fast and speed is always worth something.
The most gratifying part of cut day has to be seeing so many quality players getting waived, players who could easily play for plenty of NFL teams. It's impressive that the Bengals have enough talent to waive guys like McNeal and Wilkerson.

More: Team makes 22 roster moves - Mark Curnutte's Blog
Roster Cut Thoughts - Cincy Jungle