Chris Henry Is A Joke

© Chris Breeze

When moronic Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry was arrested for punching a man and breaking the rear window of his automobile with a beer bottle, the Cincinnati Bengals did the only thing they could, which was to release him.

Henry's been arrested at least five times in the last three years, and was even suspended by nfl commissioner Roger Goodell. Still, he didn't get it. For his part, Bengals president Mike Brown released a statement condemning Henry. It read in part:

Chris Henry has forfeited his opportunity to pursue a career with the Bengals. His conduct can no longer be tolerated. … The Bengals tried for an extended period of time to support Chris and his potentially bright career. We had hoped to guide him toward an appropriate standard of personal responsibility.

Apparently, they failed at that. But some people can't be saved, or don't want to, or are just too dumb to realize what they are giving up. If the 24-year-old Henry was defending himself in any of these incidents, or had there been some other kind of mitigating circumstances, it would be easier to give him a break. But his actions over the years have been foolish – supplying alcohol to minors, pointing a gun at people, smoking herb – just dumb crap.

Henry has been released, he'll almost certainly be suspended by Goodell – again – for most or all of the 2008 season, and he's not good enough to get many more chances. Hopefully he gets it this time, but that's difficult to believe.

Meanwhile, for the Bengals, this just increases the need to make Chad Johnson (who was reportedly surprised at the team's decision to release Henry) happy, one way or the other. So if they can't mend fences with him, they should probably trade him, get a high draft pick in return, and use it to pick up a wideout. Or the Bengals may go into 2008 without two of their top three receivers from last year.