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.

Pacman heads north to resume football career

Update: It seems the Winnipeg Blue Bombers will not be bringing Pacman to the Great White North after all. The Blue Bombers have appeared to have done their "due dilligence" and concluded that Jones would not be a fit for the organiztion.

Former Tennessee Titan and Dallas Cowboy Adam "Pacman" Jones will be playing football again...for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League. Jones agreed to a one-year deal with the team.

Jones chose the CFL over the upstart United Football League due to a few factors. One of those factors was the financial aspect but no contract terms were released. Plus, Pacman will be able to use his talents on both offense and defense with Winnipeg. The story was first reported by Jim Totter of SI.com.

Jones made the following statement with SI.com:

"It'll be a good experience for me to get back in game shape and compete and play football, which I like to do. I'm real happy for the opportunity that's been given to me. Of course it's disappointing to me to not be playing in the NFL. But things happen and you have to adjust. "

The Dallas Cowboys released the once promising Jones in February. Jones was suspended for the entire 2007 season (as a member of the Tennessee Titans) due to his violation of the NFL's personal conduct policy. The Titans traded Jones to the Dallas Cowboys prior to the 2008 season. He later served a four game suspension at thte beginning of the 2008 season (as a member of the Cowboys) after Jones has a "conflict" with a bodyguard assigned to him by the Cowboys.

Much has been made of Jones and his off-field expoits. But Blue Bomber general manager John Murphy did some homework. Murphy knows of his "issues" concerning the NFL. Who doesn't. Over the last two weeks, he spoke to a few NFL general managers and none of them gave any indication that Jones was ever a bad teammate. The only drawback to any NFL team signing Jones was that he is only one misstep away from a permanent league ban.

One GM went so far as to offer this:

"He's already got 2 1/2 strikes against him, so he's just not worth the time."

Pacman desires to play in the NFL again. The CFL gives him a chance that  NFL teams cannot be willing to give him considering the heavy handed manner in which NFL Commissioner Roger Godell "judges" those that violate the personal conduct policy. But is this move a good one for Winnipeg?

Murphy addressed that. He feels it's a "win-win" situation. And it is. The Blue Bombers get a talented, 25-year-old that can help the team. He can not only be used on both sides of the ball, but in the return game as well. Jones can also be used in the marketing of team. Jones must now use that to his advantage and help repair an extremely tarnished reputation.

Some will view this signing as another athlete receiving preferential treatment. It is. I agree with that 100%, maybe even 110%. I do wish Pacman well. I just hope he can find the nerve to stay away from Windsor.