Perry, Rudi back on field

The Bengals are holding another offseason practice at this hour, and tailbacks Rudi Johnson and Chris Perry are participating fully. They had each missed at least one workout last week.

There are still no signs of projected offensive starters Chad Johnson, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Willie Anderson and Levi Jones. The sessions are voluntary. The only mandatory event of the offseason is full-squad minicamp June 12-14.

Tailback Kenny Watson is not on the field. Safety Dexter Jackson and tailback Kenny Irons (knee) are working on the sideline with strength and conditioning coaches.

Bengals DT Shirley in court today

Jason Shirley, the Bengals' fifth-round round draft pick from Fresno State, will be in Fresno County Superior Court today for a jury trial, stemming from a series of misdemeanor charges last fall, a court clerk said this morning.

Attempts by Shirley's lawyer to have the case dismissed Thursday were not successful. The lawyer argued that the district attorney did not legally obtain Shirley's medical records and are using them, The Fresno Bee reported.

The defensive tackle was not at the team's offseason practice Wednesday.

He was charged for driving under the influence, driving with a blood-alcohol content of .08 or higher, hit-and-run driving and driving with a suspended license and expired registration for two separate incidents last fall.

UPDATE: 10:00 p.m.

Shirley is expected to be in Fresno County Superior Court all of next week, when he will miss three more Bengals’ offseason practices, for a jury trial that stems from a series of misdemeanor charges last fall. Jury selection is expected Tuesday, followed by opening arguments Wednesday and possible closing arguments Friday, according to The Fresno Bee.

Blog move

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Shirley DUI case continued Thursday

Defensive tackle Jason Shirley, the Bengals' fifth-round draft pick, was not at the OTA practice today. He was in Fresno County Superior Court, where his lawyer asked for his DUI case to be dismissed on grounds the district attorney did not legally obtain Shirley’s medical records and are using them, The Fresno Bee reported.

A judge will rule Thursday on the motion. If denied, a jury trial could start immediately. Shirley faces misdemeanor charges for driving under the influence, driving with a blood-alcohol content of .08 or higher, hit-and-run driving and driving with a suspended license and expired registration for two separate incidents last fall, The Bee reported.

Thurman gone, not forgotten

Linebacker Odell Thurman, waived Monday by the Bengals, who waited out his two-season NFL suspension, was recalled today by a couple of his teammates.

"He had the talent and let it go to waste. His mindset just wasn't in the place. I wish him the best, whatever he does. But he had the opportunity to be here and be one of the best, but he didn't capitzlize on the opportunity." -- Safety Dexter Jackson.

"It's tough, it's tough. Odell was a well-liked guy on the team, had possibly more talent than anybody we've seen come through here. So it's tough to lose an athlete like that, a guy like that, and a draft pick. I mean, you only get so many second-round draft picks and when you only get one year out of them, it affects your team tremendously. It's just tough to lose the player that he was, and you really can't replace him." -- Quarterback Carson Palmer.

Walking off the field after today's offseason practice, Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis spoke with reporters and was asked several questions about Thurman:

Question: Why did you waive Odell?
Lewis: "We made the statement, and Odell is no longer on this football team."

Q: The agent (Safarrah Lawson) said you told him that Odell had not been around enough. True?
Lewis: "That's not true."

Q: If that is not the truth, what is the truth?
Lewis: "I kind of said in the statement we're going without him. He has not played football in two years. And we have people who will be better for our football team."

Q: His representative (Lawson) told us that he wasn't around enough. Is that correct?
Lewis: "Not true."

Q: Lawson said he was disappointed that the Bengals waived Thurman right after his grandmother died.
Lewis: "His grandmother's been buried for quite a while. Don't get into his whole family structure. We've been patient enough with Odell, and he's no longer here. No big deal."

Bengals hit field for OTA practice

The Bengals are into their second week of organized team activity (OTA) practices. It is their fifth of 12 this spring.

They are on the field now for the one practice of this week open to the outside media.

Notes:

-- Running back Kenny Watson and safety Dexter Jackson are in street clothes, not participating, but they are on the field. Bigger news is tailbacks Chris Perry was watching in street clothes and Rudi Johnson was not here.

Perry said after practice he was just getting a day of rest after having gone for the first four OTAs. Coach Marvin Lewis declined to comment on the whereabouts of his missing players.

-- The rookies have returned, including linebacker Keith Rivers and wide receivers Jerome Simpson and Andre Caldwell.

-- One rookie not here is defensive tackle Jason Shirley, who has a court date today back in California, stemming from a DUI arrest last fall.

-- Starting wide receivers Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh are not present.

-- Second-year running back Kenny Irons is working on the side with a member of the strength and conditioning staff. He is attempting to come back from an ACL injury.

-- First-year defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer is making his presence known. "We got to outwork them," he said while watching defensive linemen run to a blocking sled and linebackers to a tackling dummy.

-- Eric Henderson is working at defensive end, his college position. He is listed on the roster as a linebacker. He could be a swing player.

-- Defensive line coach Jay Hayes is sporting the latest message T-shirt handed out by head coach Marvin Lewis. It is orange with the team logo on the front and the word "NOW" in block, white letters across the back.

-- Florida coach Urban Meyer is at practice with his father. Meyer has ties to the University of Cincinnati.

Vote vindicates Brown

The following is a story written Sunday, March 30, 2008, and published in the March 31 Enquirer. (A reader posted a comment on this blog this morning that the rest of the NFL was indeed coming around to where Bengals president Mike Brown had stood all along.)

By Mark Curnutte
mcurnutte@enquirer.com

PALM BEACH, Fla. – Mike Brown and his daughter, Katie Blackburn, after eating lunch, walked Sunday afternoon through the lobby of the Breakers resort.

Brown didn’t call any attention to himself; it’s not his style. But he couldn’t have been blamed if he’d decided to pump his chest a bit and said to fellow owners, “I told you so.”

Two years after Brown and Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson were ridiculed for being behind the times and casting the only two votes against the league’s labor deal with the players’ union, these members of the NFL’s old guard now appear to have been ahead of the curve.

Though a league-imposed ban remains on team owners not to discuss the labor situation in public – lest they be fined – sentiment has swung among fellow owners toward Brown and Wilson’s position. The six-year extension from 2006 is not good for the league.

And for Brown and Wilson, it’s a matter of vindication.

Owners have until Nov. 8 to opt out of the six-year extension to their collective bargaining agreement with the players. They need only nine of 32 votes to get out of it. The prevailing wisdom is they will. Then the union will strike or use decertification tactics. The 2009 season would be the last with a salary cap.
Pat Bowlen, owner and chief executive officer of the Denver Broncos, is co-chair of the league’s compensation committee.

“I don’t know at this point because I’m on that particular committee, and we’re going to be talking about it a lot this week,” Bowlen said Sunday when asked if Brown and Wilson could take satisfaction in their votes. “But I have nothing but respect for Ralph and Mike.”

The CBA extension of March 2006 increased the players’ share of league revenue to 60 percent, adding another $850 million to $900 million to their take. It was approved 30-2 in a hurriedly organized vote against a union-imposed deadline.

Brown said “no” and was called cheap by national media. Wilson emerged from the vote at Grapevine, Texas, and said, “I don’t understand it. It is a very complicated issue, and I don’t believe we should be rushing to vote in 45 minutes.” The suggestion was made in the media that Wilson was senile.

“That took some courage,” Falcons president Rich McKay, co-chair of the competition committee, said of the twin no votes. “National media-wise they took some heat for it. I don't think they did internally. I think everyone respected what they said. It didn't mean that they voted that way, but they respected what they said.”

McKay has served on the competition committee with Brown. Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis now is on the committee, which proposes rules changes and points of emphasis to owners for possible adoption.

“I don't think any one has more passion about the NFL than the Brown family,” McKay said. “And that passion carries over to every facet of their approach to the game. Mike has always been a guy who has dedicated a tremendous amount of time, not just to his team, but to league matters. He's a pretty well thought-out and bright person.”

The Bengals and Bills are two of the NFL’s smallest-market and lower-revenue teams.

The Bills, with league approval, have since moved eight games over the next five seasons to the Rogers Centre in Toronto. The goal is to create additional revenue for the club. They will play a preseason and a regular-season game in 2008 across the Canadian border.

The rest of the league, even large-market owners such as New England’s Robert Kraft, has come to better understand Brown and Wilson’s wisdom.

“They are well-respected. They don’t seem to hesitate when they have something to say to say it,” said Dan Rooney, chairman of the Pittsburgh Steelers, another relatively small-market team.

Tom Benson is owner and president of the New Orleans Saints.

“My feeling is there is 100 percent support of everything we’re doing right now, and it includes them, too. This period of time we’re going through right now, it looks to be that we’ve got a great thing going, and everybody (owners) is going to have something they like and something they don’t like.

“I think we’ve got 100 percent across the board, including those two (Brown and Wilson).”

NFL votes not to extend labor deal

By Mark Curnutte
mcurnutte@enquirer.com

NFL owners voted this morning to opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association.

A league meeting is underway today in Atlanta, where 24 of 32 owners would have had to vote to extend the contract. No vote total was yet available.

The Enquirer requested an interview with Bengals president Mike Brown, but the club said that the NFL has sent a directive to all teams that the only league comment on the matter is to come through the office of commissioner Roger Goodell. NFLPA executive director is holding a national conference call at 11:30 this morning.

In a statement released this morning, following the vote, the NFL assured fans that football would be played uninterrupted for at least the next three seasons.

“The 2008 and 2009 seasons will be played with a salary cap,” the league said in its statement. “If there is no new agreement before the 2010 season, that season will be played without a salary cap under rules that also limit the free agency rights of the players. If not extended, the agreement would expire at the end of the 2010 league year.”

In March 2006, Brown and the Buffalo Bills’ Ralph Wilson were the only two team owners of 32 to vote against the union proposal to extend the labor contract through 2011.

Brown and Wilson saw the proposal, which gave players 60 percent of league revenues -- another $850 million of the more than $6 billion NFL – as disastrous for small-market teams.

Now some notable big-market owners – Jerry Jones in Dallas, Robert Kraft of New England and Pat Bowlen in Denver – are saying the deal is not good for the NFL.
They have said teams will struggle because players have too much money.
And though increasing numbers of team owners now think the deal was, in the words of Bowlen to The Rocky Mountain News, “not our smartest move,” they aren’t aligned in their vision for the league’s future.

No statement of reaction is available yet on the NFL Players Association web site, but Upshaw was quoted Monday on the site and said the action was expected for the past six months.

“If they don't do it next week then it will be soon after that," Upshaw said in a statement posted Monday. “They want to opt out and we don't.”

On its site, the NFLPA said measures already were underway to try to reach a new agreement.

“The end of the agreement does not necessarily mean that there will be a work stoppage,” the union wrote.

Upshaw has predicted that owners could lock out the players in 2011.
Upshaw already has have several early discussions with owners, including Bowlen and Carolina’s Jerry Richardson, two people that the union expects to be heavily involved in long-term talks.

The discussions will feature two sides that are both making a lot of money.

“The NFL earns very substantial revenues. But the clubs are obligated by the CBA to spend substantially more than half their revenues – almost $4.5 billion this year alone -- on player costs,” the NFL said in a statement. “In addition, as we have explained to the union, the clubs must spend significant and growing amounts on stadium construction, operations and improvements to respond to the interests and demands of our fans. The current labor agreement does not adequately recognize the costs of generating the revenues of which the players receive the largest share.”

The NFL has enjoyed labor peace for 20 years.

NFL owners opt out of labor deal

UPDATED: 10:41 a.m.

NFL owners voted this morning to opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association.

A league meeting is underway this morning in Atlanta.

No statement of reaction is available yet on the NFL Players Association web site, but union executive director Gene Upshaw was quoted Monday on the site and said the action was expected for the past six months.

"If they don't do it next week then it will be soon after that," Upshaw said in a statement posted Monday. "They want to opt out and we don't."

At the meetings, 24 of 32 owners had to vote to extend the current CBA.

When the deal was approved in March 2006, only Bengals president Mike Brown and Buffalo owner Ralph Wilson voted against it.

The Enquirer has requested an interview with Brown to explain to Bengals fans what today's news means to them and the region.

Here is the NFL's statement on that decision:

What happened?

The current Collective Bargaining Agreement, initially negotiated in 1993, has been extended on several occasions, most recently in March 2006. The 2006 extension, which could have continued through the 2012 season, gave both the NFL and the NFLPA an option to shorten the deal by one or two years.

NFL clubs today voted unanimously to exercise that option and to continue negotiating a new agreement for the 2011 season and beyond that will work better for both the clubs and the players.

What does this mean to fans and games on the field?

Even without another agreement, NFL football will be played without threat of interruption for at least the next three seasons. The 2008 and 2009 seasons will be played with a salary cap. If there is no new agreement before the 2010 season, that season will be played without a salary cap under rules that also limit the free agency rights of the players. If not extended, the agreement would expire at the end of the 2010 league year.

We are resolved to do our best to achieve a fair agreement that will allow labor peace to continue through and beyond the 2011 season.

What are the issues?

A collective bargaining agreement has to work for both sides. If the agreement provides inadequate incentives to invest in the future, it will not work for management or labor. And, in the context of a professional sports league, if the agreement does not afford all clubs an opportunity to be competitive, the league can lose its appeal.

The NFL earns very substantial revenues. But the clubs are obligated by the CBA to spend substantially more than half their revenues – almost $4.5 billion this year alone -- on player costs. In addition, as we have explained to the union, the clubs must spend significant and growing amounts on stadium construction, operations and improvements to respond to the interests and demands of our fans. The current labor agreement does not adequately recognize the costs of generating the revenues of which the players receive the largest share; nor does the agreement recognize that those costs have increased substantially -- and at an ever increasing rate -- in recent years during a difficult economic climate in our country. As a result, under the terms of the current agreement, the clubs’ incentive to invest in the game is threatened.

There are substantial other elements of the deal that simply are not working. For example, as interpreted by the courts, the current CBA effectively prohibits the clubs from recouping bonuses paid to players who subsequently breach their player contacts or refuse to perform. That is simply irrational and unfair to both fans and players who honor their contracts. Also irrational is that in the current system some rookies are able to secure contracts that pay them more than top proven veterans.

Our objective is to fix these problems in a new CBA, one that will provide adequate incentives to grow the game, ensure the unparalleled competitive balance that has sustained our fans’ interest, and afford the players fair and increasing compensation and benefits.

Blog changes

Starting later this week, this blog will be published in a new blog tool on our new Cincinnati.Com Web site. The blog focus isn't changing, but it will have a lot of improvements.

When we move to the new blog, this one won't go away just yet, but it will have a link to the home of the new blog. Eventually, any bookmarks and links to this blog will take you to the new one.

Once reporters start posting to the new blog, you'll get a sneak peek at the new Web site before anyone else. A link will be posted here when that happens.

We’ll also be launching a couple of new sports blogs on the new Web site. One will be dedicated to sports in Kentucky – with University of Kentucky athletics and Kentucky Speedway as the focus - and the other will be a general sports blog written by the entire Sports staff that will offer off-beat news that doesn’t fit anywhere else and links from around the Internet to give a glimpse at what the rest of the world is saying about our local sports and athletes. We’ll provide links to those new blogs when they’re started.

One big change: On the new blogs, you’ll need to sign up for an account (it’s free) in order to post comments. Anonymous comments will no longer be permitted.

Rep: No plans for Thurman grievance

The Bengals cleaned out Odell Thurman's locker Tuesday, the day he did not report for voluntary on-field practice, Safarrah Lawson, one of the linebacker's Atlanta-based representatives told the Enquirer this afternoon.

The Bengals announced late this morning that they had waived the second-year linebacker from Georgia.

Thurman attended the funeral for his grandmother, Betty Thurman, 80, on Monday in his hometown of Monticello, Ga. She had brought up Thurman after the death of his mother and death a few years later of his father.

"He was overcome by grief once he was down there," Lawson said. "The kid had a lot to deal with. She was the only family he had left."

The Bengals had three practices on field last week.

Thurman's representatives have no immediate plans to file a grievance over Thurman's release, Lawson said. At the same time, at least two teams already have been in contact with representives to express their interest in possibly signing Thurman.

"We just want to move on and get him back on the field," Lawson said. "He's disappointed. He wanted to reclaim his career in Cincinnati and help them get back to the playoffs."

Bengals release Thurman

UPDATED:

After sticking with Odell Thurman through a two-year NFL suspension, the Bengals will announce by the end of business today that they are waiving the second-year linebacker from Georgia.

Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis called Safarrah Lawson, one of Thurman’s Atlanta-based representatives, and told him that the team has cut ties with Thurman, Lawson told The Enquirer this morning.

The Bengals later confirmed the transaction.

Thurman was in his native Monticello, Ga., last week to attend his grandmother’s funeral and take care of family matters, Lawson said. Thurman’s parents are dead, and the woman that brought up Thurman had died, Lawson said.

“The NFL provided Odell the opportunity to earn his way back onto our team, but we have not seen the right steps taken by him,” Lewis said this morning in a statement released by the Bengals.

“With our offseason work in progress and new talent added at our linebacker position, we’ve determined it’s best to keep moving in a direction that does not include Odell.”

Thurman missed three voluntary on-field practices. Lawson said Lewis told him that the Bengals needed Thurman in the building, that he wasn’t in the building and that they were going in a different direction.

“The support he got from the fans, from the people of Cincinnati, from Marvin Lewis and (team president) Mike Brown, this comes as a surprise,” Lawson told The Enquirer in a phone interview.

Thurman missed the past two seasons because of a league suspension for repeated violations of its substance abuse policy. He was suspended for all of the 2006 seasons following a September DUI arrest in the East End. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell then extended Thurman’s sentence to an entire season. The league then denied his application for reinstatement last July and said he could re-apply following the 2007 season. Thurman was allowed to begin working out with the Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium in January and reinstated April 21.

The Bengals earlier this spring, on April 3, released wide receiver Chris Henry following his fifth arrest in 28 months.

Thurman led the Bengals with 148 total tackles as a rookie in 2005 and tied a franchise rookie record with five interceptions. He started 15 of 16 regular season games and the team's wildcard playoff loss to the Steelers -- which would be the last game he would play in a Bengals uniform.

The Bengals used their first-round pick April 26 in the NFL draft on Southern Cal linebacker Keith Rivers.

The Bengals now have none of their first-day draft picks from 2005 remaining on the team. Linebacker David Pollack, taken in the first round, has retired, Lewis said, because of a fractured C6 vertebra. Thurman was the second-round pick and Henry the third.

Catching up with Reggie Williams

The New York Times featured former Bengals linebacker Reggie Williams recently in a story detailing his post-football medical problems. The link is above.

Tenable job fair for Bengals games

Tenable Event Services, the company that provides assorted services for Bengals home games at Paul Brown Stadium, will hold a job fair the first weekend of June.

The times and dates are Friday, June 6, 5:30-8:30 p.m.; Saturday, June 7, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; and Sunday, June 8, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Tenable is looking for suite attendants, security personnel, ushers, wheelchair escorts, elevator operators and gate staff. Call 455-8728.

Participants should enter Gate C, on the north end of the stadium near the Bengals Pro Shop.

Henry: Pacman like a brother

Wednesday on "The SIRIUS Blitz": on SIRIUS NFL Radio, hosts Adam Schein and Solomon Wilcots spoke with former Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry. Henry discussed, among other topics, his current legal situation, departure from the Bengals and his former college teammate at West Virginia, cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones.

Wilcots: Where are you right now with the legal process and where are you right now with seeking another team to call home?

Henry: Well, right now with the legal thing I’m pretty much waiting for my last court date which is next month. And other team wise, I’m just sitting back waiting to hear something from somebody.

Schein: If I’m a general manager why do I believe, if I sign Chris Henry, that Chris Henry will stay out of trouble?

Henry: Because, I mean, I would have to sit down and talk to him and explain what type of a guy I am and just let them know what I bring to the table as far as playing ball and hopefully he can believe in me and give me a chance.

Schein: How are you doing mentally?

Henry: I’m fine, you know? Only I know that I really ain’t in the wrong for anything. I’m fine. I’m kind of hurt being released from the Bengals because I really did think I was going to be here for a long time. Like I said, just trying to stay positive and trying to see where I’m going to be at in here the future. Hopefully I’ll be still living my dream, playing ball.

Wilcots: Are you able to leave the house to go work out? Are you able to go run routes? What football related things are you able to do at this point in time?

Henry: Actually I’ve been totally locked down in my home. Only working out I’ve been doing is push-ups every day.

Schein: Have you had any contact with your former college teammate, Pacman Jones?

Henry: Yeah, me and Pacman talk all the time. He’s like my brother and we’re always talking.

Schein: Are you convinced that his demons are a thing of the past?

Henry: Yeah. We were young and got caught up in making some mistakes and, you know, people mature and learn from their mistakes. I think we’re both going to be fine.