Holy Crap! Talk about something I didn’t expect to happen. The Bengals have decided that their stance on not allowing criminals who can’t seem to keep from being arrested from being a part of their organization is no longer applicable. This stance had a good run of about 3 months or so.

This may come as a shock to many of you, but the Bengals have agreed to a new contract with Chris Henry after they let him go just a few months ago. Henry will serve a four game suspension to start the season but then be back with the team that summarily dismissed him for his conduct. I suppose the fact that Henry hasn’t been arrested in the last couple of months means he is a changed man.

The Bengals kicked Henry off the team because they were trying to clean up their image and Henry was getting arrested every other day for something. He has been arrested 5 times since he became a member of the Bengals. Marvin Lewis had said that there was no way Henry would play again as a Bengal. I suppose Lewis will never be hired as a fortune teller, which will limit his job possibilities after he is fired at the end of the season.

We all knew that Henry was eventually going to sign with someone. There are too many other teams that are willing to take a chance, and he has the coveted skills. What gets me is that Henry really has never produced at the level that many think he is at. He has never had more than 605 receiving yards in a season or 36 catches. He is a big play threat, but he is even more of a threat to land in jail than become a NFL star.

The fact that it was the Bengals re-signing him is simply astounding to me. I have never heard of such hypocrisy. How could the Bengals even consider such a stupid move? The PR hit will be much more damaging that any positives that Henry can give on the field. He is not quite Pacman Jones, but he is in the same league.

I don’t know if Marvin Lewis made this decision or if it was those in upper management, but I have a feeling it was Lewis. With so many talented players in the league and even on those players on the fringe of the league, the Bengals could have found a receiver that could catch 35 balls for 600 yards without all the baggage, and who would at least be eligible for all 16 games.

This grand decision makes the Bengals look like the most foolish franchise this side of Green Bay.