In his first comments regarding the release of linebacker Odell Thurman apart from a prepared statement that likely was prepared by someone else), Bengals coach Marvin Lewis didn’t do much to clean up the P.R. mess created by the alleged decision to dump Thurman because he missed voluntary workouts following the death of his grandmother.

“His grandmother’s been buried for quite a while,” Lewis said.  “Don’t get into his whole family structure.  He has not played football in two years.  And we have people who will be better for our football team.”

Ouch.

“We’ve been patient enough with Odell, and he’s no longer here.  No big deal.”

Double ouch.

Not everyone in the building was dumping on Thurman, the team’s second-round pick in the 2005 draft. 

“Odell was a well-liked guy on the team, had possibly more talent than anybody we’ve seen come through here,” said quarterback Carson Palmer.  “So it’s tough to lose an athlete like that, a guy like that, and a draft pick.

“I mean, you only get so many second-round draft picks and when you only get one year out of them, it affects your team tremendously.  It’s just tough to lose the player that he was, and you really can’t replace him.”

Actually, the Bengals have now lost their first-round pick (linebacker David Pollack), second-round pick, and third-round pick (receiver Chris Henry) from the 2005 draft.  Previously Pollack recently retired due to a neck injury and Henry was cut after his fifth arrest since entering the league.