For starters I have to apologize for my...well extremely long hiatus from writing. I have been really busy with work and when I've found some hours in which I didn't do work, I decided that I would rather sit around and do nothing than write on the blog. In the end it was a week long break from Pocket Presence and I have to say that I missed it quite a bit. Writing on the blog really allows me to release steam and frustration and that is what this post is going to be all about.
So lets get to the actual topic: Chris Henry, formally of the Cincinnati Bengals. The 24 year old Henry was blessed with exceptional physical tools. The kid is 6'4, 200 pounds and runs the 40 in about 4.40. He has a 36 inch vertical leap and is able to jump and catch the ball at its highest point. Coming out of college some scouts claimed that he had the physical tools of a Randy Moss. There is no question that Henry is one of the most gifted wrs in the game. In his rookie year he went out and caught 31 balls for 422 and 6 tds, while playing behind Chad Johnson and TJ Whosyomomma. The next year he went on to catch a few more balls, about 39 for a few more yards, a little more than 600 and a nice number of touchdowns, 9. Last year, in only 8 games the kid caught 21 passes for 343 and 2 tds (let me remind you that the bengals were terrible last year and that he was suspended for the first 8 games).
Looking at that most people would think that this kid has a lot of potential. He is playing behind 2 of the best wide receivers in the league and was still able to catch 17 tds in two and a half years. Thats not bad. Given the right opportunity Henry could easily turn out to be a solid, solid #2 wide receiver and with enough time probably a pretty decent #1 wr in the nfl. However, the question now becomes will he get that time.
As previously mentioned Henry has been released from the Bengals. He has been arrested 4 times between December 2005 and June 2006. He faced multiple assault chargers, a drunk driving charge, a serving alcohol to minors charge, a possession of marijuana charge, and a carrying a concealed weapon charge. He was pulled over for driving without a license last week and yesterday was charged and arrested for punching an 18 year old in the face and then throwing a beer bottle into the passenger side window of the kids car.
Coming out of college it was widely known that Henry was pretty immature. He had multiple confrontations with his teammates and many many scouts removed him from their draft board for his bad character. PacMan Jones... aka The Rain Man... and him were widely considered to be rare talents coming out of West Virginia together. People felt that they had an unbelievable amount potential but they were also known to have loads of off the field issues ass well. Thus, both the Titans and the Bengals took a massive chances back in 2004 by drafting them.
And now it seems that both PacMan and Chris Henry will be available once again together this upcoming season. Both men have recently served suspensions, with Chris's being an 8 game suspension and The Rain Man's being a full year. It is up in the air, for both men, whether or not Commissioner Roger Goodell will let them play in this upcoming season, as both have been charged or convicted of a crime in the past calendar year.
However the real question is, if both men are allowed to play football will anyone want them? Is there any team with a coach/owner who thinks he can change a misguided players life? That he can finally get the full potential out of the player and keep him out of trouble? And if so, is it worth it? Should any team take a chance on these two, physically gifted, but troubled players?
The answer here is hard to say. For Chris Henry he will first be placed on the waiver wire, allowing any of the other 31 nfl teams to make a claim on him. If so he will be signed by the team using the contract he signed with the Begnals, without any signing bonus or roster bonus, meaning he will come cheap. The team that signs him though will have to deal with the main issue, will Goodell suspend him once again? And if he does suspend him, will Goodell ever let him back into the league? In my opinion, I think Henry is just a young punk who thinks he can do whatever he wants. I truly do not see Chris Henry playing in the NFL again. The kid simply does not get it and I do not see any teams wasting their time, or their money on this screw up for a person, and I wouldn't advise any team to even think about trying it. He will most likely be suspended for the entire 2008 season, and I have a hard time seeing him cleaning up his life and an even harder time seeing Goodell reinstate him.
The Pacman issue is a little harder to assess. Friends, mainly his agent, claim that he has changed his life and has begun to fix his image. He has attended a few charity events, canceled a party he was schedule to appear at, and as far as I know, hasn't been arrested or done anything stupid in a few months. It will be interesting to see what Goodell does when it comes time to reinstate Pacman because once Pacman was suspended by the nfl he seemed to clean up his life a little bit. If he is allowed back into the NFL, I think every team should look into acquiring his services. The man has two skill sets that EVERY nfl team needs, the ability to shutdown the oppositions top wide out, and his outstanding ability to return kicks and punts. Pacman was quickly becoming one of the best cornerbacks in the nfl when he was suspended and was widely considered one of the best return men. If he can just keep his act together he could easily reclaim those positions in the nfl and once again be considered one of the better younger players in the league. I cannot think of one team that does not need a solid #1 cornerback that is 24 years of age and that can return kicks and punts as well as he does. Especially since the Titans are only asking for a 4th round pick for the man. He easily has 1st round talent and could just as easily become one of the top 5 cornerback in the league if given another opportunity. The only problem is that I do not think Goodell will reinstate him, and if he has another year without football, I really do not see him staying out of trouble. Thus, I don't see any team acquiring him this offseason, and sadly, like Henry, I do not see him playing in the nfl again.
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