Bengals Consider Bringing Henry Back

As WDR told you last week, including our report from a source on the Bengals staff that Chris Henry was seen at training camp, it is now being reported by Adam Schefter of the NFL Network that the Bengals are truly considering bringing Chris Henry back. 

While this move would be universally panned by all Bengals fans and the media, I am in full support of the Bengals re-signing Henry.  Why?  It's not because of Henry's talent or the Bengals' hole at 3rd WR.  No, it is because I want this event to galvanize Bengals fans around the country. I want the Bengals' signing of Henry to cause even the most causal, happy-go-lucky Bengals fan to get angry at Mike Brown for his handling of player personnel decisions.  I want people to question Mike Brown's sanity.  I want this to cause such a media frenzy that maybe, just maybe, we will actually see some change.

The bottom line is this - with or without Henry, it is going to take a lot of breaks for this Bengals team to even have a shot at the playoffs.  And if Marvin posts another 8-8 or 7-9 season, Bengals fans will be disappointed but by the time the 2009 season rolls around, nothing will have changed. The Bengals are shooting for mediocrity.  Low expectations are always the death knell for an organization - whether it be for a school, a business or a professional football team.

But, if the Bengals sign Henry, cause turmoil and universal outcry over Mikey's redeemer philosophy of running the team, perhaps we will see some real change on the team.

So, Chris Henry, I hope to see you in Bengal stripes by Week 5 when you are off suspension.  Parents in the tri-state, hide your daughters and lock up your liquor cabinets.  Chris Henry might be coming back to Cincinnati!

Comments

[Marc]

Obviously our scouting department screwed up again, Simpson and Caldwell aren't as good as we thought. Signing Henry is a must at this point.

[Klinglered]

I just can't believe they would bring him back at this point knowing the obvious public backlash but then again nothing this franchise has ever done since 1991 has been logical, rational, or even well thought out.

[Paul Katz]

You might not realize that a lot of naive Bengals fans have wanted them to resign Henry as soon as he was acquitted. Maybe Mikey is channeling this city's forgiving nature.

[IgnatiusJReilly]

Devil's advocate, here. At least for the upcoming season- well, three-fourths of it anyway, Henry, presuming he can keep himself in check, is our best and brightest option at #3. It would be good for the staff to assign some veteran, ideally someone bigger than him to kick his butt when necessary. His presence at practice would provide better reps for the secondary against his speed and height. He wouldn't cost much at all and, were it to work out reasonably well this season, he might actually fetch something in a postseason trade.

Seriously, who gives a shit what the national media says about the Bengals? Several other teams in larger markets probably deserved our position as the national lightning rod for Goodell's player conduct ire. [It's my belief that Goodell's draconian treatment of Odell Thurman has as much to do with where Odell is now as his own substance abuse problems. Two full years of suspension was so far over the top, I wondered briefly whether Thurman had schtupped Goodell's wife.]. We bring Henry in, use him as long as possible, and cut him loose at the first sign of trouble.

Seems like a no-brainer- but that could just mean empty headed.

[Sleeping With Bieniemy]

Mr Reilly,

You make rational points if you assume that we are bringing in Chris Henry in a vacuum and that his issues have no effect beyond himself. But you know this is no longer true...he must interact with other players which cannot be a positive, media coverage will be a distraction, it sends a message that behavioral problems do not hurt you in the long run which handicaps Marvin Lewis' ability to impose discipline, and we have more than enough evidence that proves Henry is hardly capable of conducting himself as a true professional (which does actually matter at some point).

Maybe he has turned a corner, maybe we do badly need that third receiver to make our offense tick, maybe he is a good value at this point, maybe the punishment for Odell was too harsh and the Bengals unfairly stereotyped, maybe we have shed enough bad characters to make Chris Henry manageable, but, unfortunately, I believe it is too late for any of those things to matter. And I haven't even mentioned that we can no longer encourage Mike Brown in his grand quest to be a redeemer (a philosophy doomed to failure).

You do not make empty-headed points, I think they are valid. I just think they aren't valid once you think through the consequences beyond the first level.