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Originally Posted by SBXVII
Maybe someone can explain how Bryant is a head case? As I remember it he did well in Tampa then wanted a better contract, similar to what's happening with VJ. Didn't Tampa decide to trade him to Dallas cause he would't play for his cheap contract? Other then that what problems has he caused? Someone said he failed a drug test... how long ago was that?
Bring him in, put some rules in place, cut Kelly, and let's see if Bryant can get on the field cause we already know Kelly can't.
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Rumblings about Bryant's testy, prickly nature have followed the Miami native since his days at Pittsburgh, where he won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation's top college receiver.
He infamously blew up at Dallas Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells at a preseason practice in 2004, throwing a sweaty jersey at him during an argument. He took anger management classes and was traded to Cleveland a few months later.
Rumblings about Bryant's testy, prickly nature have followed the Miami native since his days at Pittsburgh, where he won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation's top college receiver.
49ers wide receiver Antonio Bryant arrested for drunken driving - NFL - ESPN
Obviously, it turned out that Bryant's knee wasn't healthy. He never got on the field for a preseason game, and I guess the Bengals had seen enough to know that he wasn't going to be able to help them in the regular season, either. Letting him go after paying him $8 million for 172 days of light jogging is an indication that they were pretty damn certain of it, actually.
Don't hold anything against Bryant, though. I'm sure he was as optimistic and hopeful about his knee as anyone else, and it's not like he held a gun to Mike Brown's(notes) head and made him give him a contract. If a team's going to sign a guy, it's their responsibility to make sure all his limbs are functional first.
Bryant's a free agent now, able to negotiate with any team that's interested. It's hard to imagine anyone beating down his door, given what everyone knows now about the health of his knee. The silver lining, though, is that the Bengals have made him financially secure enough that, if he wants to, he can take a year off and concentrate on getting that knee healthy. Let's hope he comes back in 2011, stronger than ever.
Ouch: Bengals swallow $8 million in release of Antonio Bryant - Shutdown Corner - NFL* - Yahoo! Sports