Bengals resign Henry, try to hide embarrassment

The Bengals tucked their tail between their legs and called up Chris Henry and resigned him. Cincinnati said they may have acted too quickly by releasing him before due process, but the real reason the resigned him is that they are a better team with him and need more wide receivers due to injuries to Ocho Cinco and Housh. It could be a good move if he has matured and is serious about staying out of trouble. Even though he probably did not currently have any other offers on the table, it shows Henry does not show a grudge and put aside any ego he has and resigned with the team that just recently released him. Cincinnati played better with him than without him in ‘07, but his stats for the 8 games he played were unspectacular- 21 catches, 343 yards, and 2 TDs. He came on strong in his return with 12 grabs, 180 yards, and 1 TD in his first two games back. The downside was he put up less than that in his final six games. He does have plenty of time to get back into shape because of his four game suspension.

The team will struggle if their top players are not 100% by the start of the year (Chad Johnson, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and Rudi Johnson), but regardless, they look like they have been passed by the Browns in the division and should finish 3rd behind Cleveland and Pittsburgh. They have drafted well the past two years but have lost good football players for various reasons this past offseason.

They lost Odell Thurman to substance abuse and David Pollack to a neck injury. They may also lose Chris Henry if he makes any mistakes this year. Thurman was a second round pick in the 2005 draft and a defensive rookie of the year candidate and could have had a long career. David Pollack was a first round pick in the ‘05 draft. Kenny Irons was their second round pick last year but was injured and has already been waived. Justin Smith took a deal for 6 years and $45 million from the 49ers in the offseason. Madieu Williams all left in the offseason also and now will start at FS for the Vikings. Antwan Odom and Ben Utecht were the only major acquisitions in the offseason.

Kyle Orton takes Rex Grossman’s job

Well it finally happened. Rex Grossman will no longer be Lovie Smith’s quarterback. The team supported him all they could and gave him a top defense to help him. Grossman had the chance to be Trent Dilfer, someone who was fortunately placed on a great team and just let everyone else do the heavy lifting. Grossman took too many chances and threw too many stupid interceptions during his tenure as starting QB in Chicago. If he just managed the team and let Robbie Gould score the points just as Matt Stover did for the Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV, he might have a ring. Instead he had his ups and downs and pissed off most of Chicago.

Muhsin Muhammad seemed to call Rex out when he said that Chicago is “where receivers go to die.” Grossman was the starting QB for 30 of 52 games from 2005-2007 when Muhammad was part of the team. If Orton has improved with accuracy, he could be what Chicago needs. The defense is getting old and the window is closing if it is not already closed for another championship run. Greg Olsen is improving, and there is optimism about Devin Hester at WR.

Preseason is that time for optimism where all people talk about are players like Olsen and Hester, but realistically, the Bears should struggle again on offense. There is no legitimate RB or WR on the team. Bernard Berrian and Muhammad are gone, and Marty Booker and Brandon Lloyd are sorry replacements. Devin Hester is interesting, but he needs work and will not be a true number one receiver this year. It was a huge mistake to keep Cedric Benson over Thomas Jones, but NFL teams always keep the player drafted more recently in the 1st round over a proven player. Benson is now gone, and mostly rookies and career backups compete for the job. Matt Forte looks like he will be the starter, but the RBs will probably share carries. Kevin Jones is the only former starter, but he played like a backup in Detroit. The Bears have the wrong Adrian Peterson and Garrett Wolfe is too small to carry the load. It should be a down year with the Bears finishing below .500 again.

Notable Recent NFL Moves

A couple moves were made this week in the NFL that were relatively unnoticed due to the Brett Favre fiasco. Chad Pennington was the highest profile of these because he is now linked to Favre. His success this year with the Dolphins will be compared at many points throughout the year to #4, so hopefully he can perform well.

Miami Dolphins sign Chad Pennington. Quick work by Parcells to sign the quarterback he drafted with the Jets in 2000. The offensive coordinator, Dan Henning, was his first OC, so there should be some familiarity there also. He was given a two-year deal to see if he can perform while Beck and Henne develop, and if the offense doesn’t develop enough with him, expect him out in two years.

Pittsburgh Steelers sign Byron Leftwich. Everyone seems afraid of Leftwich’s throwing motion, which was heavily criticized during his brief playing time in Atlanta. Leftwich and Culpepper are probably both wondering why they have not been given a chance to compete for a starting job this year, but they need to realize they may not be starters in the NFL. Leftwich never had the luxury of a Randy Moss type receiver but also never put up franchise quarterback type numbers. He’s never had a QB rating over 90 for a season, never thrown more than 15 TDs, one season with a 60% completion percentage, and never thrown for 3000 yards. He may have never had the chance to fully develop, but David Garrard rightfully took his job and proved Jack Del Rio was correct to pick him as the starter in 2007. That being said, Leftwich is a great backup and insurance if Roethlisberger gets hurt. He got surgery in the offseason on the same ankle he injured while playing college ball at Marshall, and now he can rehab it and work on his throwing mechanics this year holding a clipboard. He says he never got surgery and said no one ever told him to, but I cannot believe all of a sudden for the first time someone now told him he needed surgery on the ankle. If he gets a couple chances and impresses this year, he could go to a team like the 49ers or Bears who may need a QB next year.

Baltimore Ravens sign Lorenzo Neal. Yeah, he’s old, 37 years old. But he has been the fullback for 1000 yard rushers for 11 straight years. He’s banged up, but if he was good enough to block for Tomlinson last year, he is still good enough to play. He also can be a great teacher to Le’Ron McClain, the Ravens fullback going into his second year in the league. Assuming Willis McGahee fully recovers from his knee surgery, he should have a great lead blocker in Neal. It all may not matter though because the QB position is a mess, and their best offensive player, Jonathan Ogden, retired.

San Francisco 49ers sign Takeo Spikes. Another player with his best years probably behind him. If he was good enough to start for the Eagles, he’s great for the 49ers. He brings experience to the 49ers young, developing defense. He is expected to start immediately between Manny Lawson and Patrick Willis. Spikes could be the piece that solidifies the line and helps Willis get some attention for defensive player of the year.
Dolpins release Jay Feely. Dumb move on the part of Parcells this time. Feels like Parcells just cut him because he’s over 30. Feely was a team captain and set the Dolphins accuracy record on FGs last year (91.3%), so he gets cut. Martin Gramatica and Mike Vanderjagt frustrated him so often in Dallas that it seems he would be happy he had a solid starting kicker. But, Bill seems to only care about getting younger, and two preseason FGs by an undrafted rookie have convinced him to cut Feely. Feely will have the chance to sign with a number of teams, and hopefully he’ll have a chance for a game-winning kick against Parcells, assuming he signs with a team Miami can compete with this year.

Book Review: LT: Over the Edge

Just finished up reading LT’s second book, LT: Over the Edge, and the initial impression after is that it was a solid book that reads easy.  He says he wrote his second autobiography because he fell back into cocaine addiction after his first book left off with him quitting cocaine.  I haven’t read his first book, but I was impressed with this effort.  When I first picked it up, I thought I would enjoy the non-football parts of the book during his playing time and after.  But, the first part of the book with stories from his friends/family/former players from his time in highschool, college, and NFL was the most interesting.  Part of that had to do with what he did off the field, but it tied in to how he played the game.  With all the crazy stuff he did off the field, it’s even more incredible what he accomplished on the field.  The book was an easy read because it is essentially filled with one to three page stories that flow very well together.  His friends or family would tell their half-page story about a subject, then LT would comment or talk about what was going on with him during that time.  This makes the stories more interesting because LT almost always agrees and has something wild to add to the storytold by the other person.  The book is split into two separate parts, his time during football, then life after football.  His second half was a little slower and sounds like a story any famous or wealthy person with an addiction would go through.  The book picks back up at the end with the touching story of his hall of fame induction.  The book leaves you feeling that LT is a good person, and even though he made a lot of mistakes, everyone seems to find a way to forgive him, which speaks to his character. 

Overall, recommended and definitely worth a read.