Cincinnati Bengals Medical Staff: First Antonio Bryant, Now Rashad Jeanty?

In the past two days, the Bengals medical staff has been rushed into the spotlight quicker than a Tiger Woods mistress.
 
Two days in a row the Bengals, due to injury, cut a player. Both players are expected to retaliate against the team.
 
First it was the knee of Antonio Bryant, aka the man with the $8M signature.
 
We all know the story by now. He signed a four-year, $28M deal in the off-season. The team doctors green-lit the signing back in the winter, so how could he have gotten worse?
 
The medical staff claimed that Bryant had passed his physical and it was all systems go. Bryant was poised to be a reliable No. 2 receiver for Carson Palmer.
 
Instead, Bryant was cut on Sunday due to his ongoing medical issues. He only participated in the very first practice of training camp.

It raises an eyebrow to the competence of the Bengals medical staff and their ability to evaluate a player's injury. Bryant and his agent plan on filing a grievance to collect even more money ($1.55M base salary).
 
He was paid $8M for NOTHING. This is one of the biggest debacles in the history of the franchise (and that's saying a lot).

How furious must the penny-pinching owner Mike Brown be at his medical team? Flushing this much money down the toilet is something Brown will not tolerate.
 
My guess is that somebody had to have been fired this week—possibly even more.
 
One day later, the Bengals medical staff was under fire again for not properly diagnosing a player injury. This time it was the long-time Bengal, Rashad Jeanty.
 
The fifth-year linebacker was waived on Monday after failing a team physical. According to Jeanty’s agent, David Canter, Jeanty would still be on the team had the Bengals medical staff properly diagnosed his injury. The news came as a complete shock.
 
“Rashad is as flabbergasted as I am the way this was done,” Canter said. “To do this to him after the success he had with the team and throw someone on the trash heap like this is mind blowing.”
 
Jeanty fractured his leg on the opening kickoff of the playoff game against the Jets in January. The Bengals staff told him that he would not have to undergo any type of surgery.
 
Fast forward to March and the free agent Jeanty was visiting the Miami Dolphins. After a failed physical, the Dolphins staff told him he needed ankle surgery to heal his leg injury. There was also ligament damage.

Jeanty re-signed with the Bengals later that month and had the surgery at the very end of March.
 
Now we are in the final days of the preseason and the Bengals made Jeanty take a physical. After receiving a big fat "F", the Bengals decided to dump the veteran. He had played in 54 games for the team, starting over half of them (32).
 
To be cut after suffering from a misdiagnosis is a low blow to a former Ed Block Courage Award winner and locker-room leader.
 
“It’s tremendously disappointing on the way this has been handled,” Canter said.
 
“We don’t see how the Cincinnati Bengals can do this without any inclination that this was even a possibility. It’s a tad shocking how he was released and was done in a disheartening, callous and unfair manner.

"The only reason why he isn’t healthy and wasn’t able to pass the physical is because they failed to fully diagnose and mistreated the injury.”
 
Since Jeanty can't file an injury grievance because he was waived due to a failed physical, there is a great chance a lawsuit could be filed against the Bengals for medical malpractice.
 
It's disappointing to have such negative news just a week before the season begins. Both players could have been critical parts of the '10 Bengals. They would have been fighting in the trenches for the men in stripes in the harshest of conditions.
 
Instead, they will be fighting against them in an air-conditioned courtroom.