The Bad News Bengals

It just came across the wire that rookie tackle Andre Smith fractured his left foot during a non-contact drill today. What makes this story more interesting is that he held out of training camp to negotiate for more money and he signed his contract just two days ago. One might find it fortunate that 21 million dollars in his freshly inked contract is guaranteed, but the sceptical side of me wonders what has occurred behind the scenes....

My theory is that he partially broke his foot during off-season training and he and his agent kept it a secret. You see, signing a contract in the NFL is always contingent on passing a physical. My guess is that he and his agent held out on signing a contract until his foot healed enough to pass a physical. He completely broke his foot when he was expected to put his 300 plus pound body through the physical stress of conditioning drills in the NFL.

If I were Mr. Smith, I'd move as much of that signing bonus I could to a bank outside the United States because you can be sure the Bengals are going to investigate this, and when they get their proof, they're going to take that money back! Just ask Michael Vick.