Bengals taking boneheads

In the most recent Sporting News, NFL writer Dan Pompei polled an unnamed NFL general manager about players his team had taken off its draft board because of character issues.

Of the players that general manager's team had taken off its draft board, the Cincinnati Bengals had selected seven of them.

That's a disturbing trend for Bengals' head coach Marvin Lewis.

But the Bengals seem intent on collecting as many bad character guys as they can, including taking three such players in this year's draft,

Given the problems they've had with wide receiver Chris Henry, who seems to get arrested for something once every two or three months, it's surprising Lewis took defensive end Frostee Rucker, linebacker A.J. Nicholson and wide receiver Reggie McNeal in this year's draft.

After getting burned by bad character guys in the late '80s, the Steelers have made a concerted effort to rid themselves of those types. As a result, they've had very few embarassing moments in the past 10 years or so.

That's not to say Cincinnati can't win with the bad guys. But are the headaches they cause really worth it?