We continue to be amazed by the fact that the Cincinnati Bengals decided to bring back receiver Chris Henry after cutting him in the wake of his most recent arrest and then proclaiming that he won’t be returning after the charges were finally dropped.

The organization now has zero credibility, in our view. Here’s more on the matter, courtesy of PFTV.

 

The deeper issue here is that teams will continue to believe it’s permissible to bring in (or back) a problem player under a “last-chance” agreement, if there are no real consequences to the organization if/when the player screws up again.

In theory, the NFL’s recent decision to fine teams harboring players who are suspended under the Personal Conduct Policy should have been enough to persuade the parsimonious (thanks, Tiki, you c–t) Bengals to not risk having to fork over any cash in the event that Henry gets busted yet again. Since not even the threat of being fined was enough to prompt the penny-pinching Bengals to steer clear of Henry, we’re now more convinced than ever that the only way to get teams to place principle over production will be to strip draft picks from franchises whose players get in trouble.

We laid out a formula for dealing with the situation a couple of months ago. It could be the only way to get teams to adhere to their principles both when it’s easy to do so, and when a rash of injuries at one position makes a miscreant suddenly look like Miss America.