Bengals willing to help

Update: According to Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer, receiver Matt Jones has signed a 1-year/$700,000 deal with the Bengals.

Are the Cincinnati Bengals in the process of changing their image? Or are they in the process of helping players change theirs. Actually, both.

Yesterday, it was reported that the Bengals worked out Adam "Pacman" Jones. That same report has Cincy offering a contract to former Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Matt Jones.

Interesting. Both "Pacman" and Matt Jones have had their fair share of off-field issues. Pacman because he can't stay off the police blotter and Matt because of substance abuse. Character issues? You bet.

But therein lies the issue.

Would you want your team even giving these guys a look? Most would say no. Look at the landscape of the Bengals past versus the Bngals present, and it's almost a given why the Jones' are getting that "look-see".

The Bengals players at one time had a knack for getting into trouble with local law enforcement (10 times in a 14 month period). We saw it recently with the Rey Maualuga incident, but it had been a while since that last happened.

The Bengals are now getting into the business of helping players get their lives going back in the right direction. We heard that from every Bengals player when the unfortunate and sad news of Chris Henry's passing. All said he was in the process of getting it all together.

Henry was by far the only Bengal earning "stripes" in life. There are others on the Bengals roster that have had questionable pasts. Tank Johnson, Cedric Benson (right), Frostee Rucker, Larry Johnson. We know about Benson's transformation, and the others contributed significantly to the Bengals success in '09. LJ's departure from Kansas City was on every website last year because of comments he made. In Rucker's case, it was an incident during his playing days at USC.

Don't forget that the Bengals were also one of the teams after the services of Michael Vick.

The "what ifs" start to kick in. What if the Bengals were not there to help these guys after their former teams discarded them for various issues.

The Bengals must have a sign posted that states that if you've had issues in your past, come to Cincinnati and we will help you. Want your life to go in a proper direction? Come here. We have the tools. For most teams, there's no welcome sign sitting outside the locker room's. Cincinnati is quite the opposite.

Obviously, Marvin Lewis and his staff are doing something right. I'm not saying disregard the Maualuga incident. It deserves to be mentioned because of what happened after that incident. Maualuga admitted to his fault and is entering rehab. Don't downplay it as "he's doing it to stay out of jail". Maualuga's doing it because he saw first hand what the Bengals are willing to do to help.

There's a process in place down at Paul Brown Stadium. It's a bit different than what we saw some time ago with the Oakland Raiders.

Second chances are given. The person, not the player, need apply.