Andre Smith: Bust In the Making For Cincinnati Bengals?

Is Cincinnati Bengals rookie offensive lineman Andre Smith headed down the road to Bustville?

No one knows for sure—and we won’t for a few years—but there are some glaring signs that point in that direction.

Red flags? Smith has a slew of them. He has more than China.

He was suspended for what would have been his final collegiate game at Alabama—the Sugar Bowl loss to Utah—and that was just the start of his three month tour of strangeness.

Smith did something this year at the NFL Scouting Combine in February that league observers can’t remember seeing ever before: he left early without a trace. (Which is awfully difficult for a man his size, so he should get points for being light on his feet.)

He literally left Indianapolis without telling anyone. Going AWOL a day early from the combine before going through any the offensive line drills appeared to be some insight into the mental makeup of this young man.

I remember thinking when news broke of Smith’s abrupt departure from the combine, “Well, no one would touch him with a top 10 pick now. How could you trust someone that would pull a stunt like that with so much on the line?”

But I should have known better. I should have thought,

“No one except the Bengals would touch him with a top 10 pick now.”

Smith did have a chance to redeem himself at Alabama’s pro day in March. However, he wasn’t very impressive and put on a personal advertisement for the Bro/Manzier from Seinfeld fame when he ran the 40 with his shirt off. Not exactly what LL Cool J had in mind when he wrote the early 1990’s rap tune "Jiggling Baby". But at least Smith didn’t leave early—score one for him.

Even before that day of YouTube embarrassment, Smith’s conditioning had long been a concern. He’s listed at 335 pounds by the Bengals, but that is a conservative estimate to say the least. He’s probably at least over 350 and if he’s that big as a rookie, how much will he balloon to in future seasons?

Double agent?

Smith’s integrity has also been called into question due to how he handled the process of hiring an agent.

Smith changed agents just before the draft, going from Alvin Keels to Rick Smith (of Priority Sports). Many alleged it was bit of a scheme as I will get to in a moment.

The Bengals selected Smith with the No. 6 overall pick of the draft. It was bound to bring a boost to purveyors of Cincinnati-style chili that the city is famous for, but it remained to be seen if it would be a good decision for the organization.

In the days following the draft, Smith magically decided to go back to his previous agent, Keels. Many league insiders believed Smith only hired Smith/Priority Sports in order to help his draft stock. The Bengals’ front office has a good relationship with Priority Sports and it’s unclear if they would have taken the risk of drafting Smith if he had Keels as his agent at the time of the draft.

On top of everything else, word has leaked out that a long holdout is expected out of Smith. Since Mark Sanchez was drafted No. 5 by the New York Jets—and since the Jets arguably paid above slot for Sanchez—Smith wants a deal close to what Sanchez received. Of course that’s not reasonable since Sanchez is a quarterback, but Smith has proved logic doesn’t often factor into his equations.

Could Smith prove me wrong and be a great offensive tackle for Cincinnati for years? Certainly. Alabama emerged as one of the top teams in college football last year and he was a big reason why. However, at this point, the question marks far outweigh the talent.