Bengals: A Couple Bad Apples Can Ruin the Tree

This years draft has proven to be one of the better ones for the Cincinnati Bengals. They addressed their needs head on, and picked up some good players to fit their team. When I say the team I mean the good and the bad as well.

I guess the Bengals wanted Chris Henry to have some friends to get into trouble with this season with the addition of Tank Johnson, and now one new player to fit Henry’s lifestyle.

With the first pick they selected former Alabama offensive tackle Andre Smith. Most people know the story. He was suspended from the team's bowl game for violating team rules and he left the NFL Combine because he was “bored.”

Overall this was a decent pick because the Bengals have had plenty of time to see what the kid is about and talk with him to let him know they can’t have him on the six o’clock news.

It’s the sixth round pick that was the biggest question mark of the draft. Bernard Scott out of Abilene Christian was the biggest eyebrow raiser in the draft.

Scott has been arrested five times. Four of the charges were dropped, and one was taken to court.

Lewis addressed the issue by saying “I think at that point in the draft it was worth the opportunity he has kind of gotten his life back together. Wherever this guy has been, he has succeeded and run for a lot of yardage. We had a lot of time talking with people around him the last couple of years, and we felt really good about him.”

I don’t think they should have taken a pretty big risk with a “kind of gotten his life back together.”

The kid very well may have turned his life around stating “I cleared up the issues of my past. All of the mistakes I have made, I have learned from them. I have become a better person. I am not ashamed to talk about what I did. I made those mistakes and I have to answer those questions and go forward from there.”

However, I don’t think the Bengals should have taken a risk on him. He was one of the top division two players, but has a lot to prove from skeptics who already have him as being one of the Bengals on the news.