Marvin Lewis blew a gasket when second-year linebacker Odell Thurman was a no-show for the start of Training Camp on Saturday.  Lewis called Thurman a “non-factor” and said that he will play who shows up to work.

Thurman had a great rookie season playing in all 16 games and recording 98 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 5 interceptions..one of which Thurman returned for a TD, and he forced 4 fumbles.

Lewis is starting to let the pressure to win get to him.  Thurman would be very hard to replace for a team that expects to contend.

The young defensive tackle that was a fourth round pick in 2004 is the latest Bengal to be arrested this year joining rookies Frostee Rucker, AJ Nicholson and verteran Chris Henry.  Askew was approached last night by the police about a parking violation but he decided to try to outrun the police.  Askew was then tased and arrested and has been charged with resisting arrest, obstruction and the original parking violation.  Is Askew really worth the trouble for the Bengals?  Askew has only appeared in six games over two seasons and has a whopping total of five tackles.

The Bengals should maybe do some background checks on the players before they draft them.

On October 1st (week four) the New England Patriots invade the Jungle.  Unbelievable as it may seem the last five times the Pats have played in the Queen City….the Cats have covered.  And in the last eight overall, the Bengals are 7-0-1 against the spread vs. New England.  If Carson Palmer is healthy……bet on the Bengals.

Thurman will miss the first four games of the year due to a violation of the NFL’s substance abuse policy.  Landon Johnson and Ahmad Brooks will try to fill in for Thurman, but that’s some huge shoes to fill.  The Bengals added Sam Adams to free the linebackers….namely Thurman.

The Bengals will forfeit their third round choice in the 2007 draft for the selection of linebacker Ahmad Brooks from the University of Virginia.  Brooks was a first team all-ACC linebacker as a sophomore and a finalist for the Butkus Award as a junior.

Coach Al Groh kicked Brooks off the team in spring practice last season and would not specify a reason why.  Brooks is the kind of player the Bengals have been taking chances with lately, as they think they can straighten out bad apples that have immense talent.  That formula has worked well for them so far.

The eight year veteran offensive lineman was released by the Bengals today.  He appeared in 17 games the last two seasons for the Bengals, but only had one start for the team.  Moore finished the 2005 season on IR with a dislocated right knee.  Moore only played in four games last season.

The Bengals got rid of Moore because of their faith in young offensive linemen Eric Ghiaciuc and second round draft pick Andrew Whitworth.

Rudi Johnson has lost some weight as he is down to 218 pounds, but he has retained his power.  Johnson is one of the most feared power backs between the tackles, and will see an increased workload if Carson Palmer isn’t ready to go from Day One.  Johnson has averaged 22 carries a game the last two seasons.  The battering ram has rushed for 2,912 yards the last two seasons with 24 rushing TD’s, 12 carries of over 20 yards and an astonishing 152 first downs.

Johnson is a throwback, in that, he mostly blocks on passing plays as evidenced by him only catching 38 passes for a meager 174 yards.  But that is just a little nit-picking, because they don’t need him to go out for passes.

The Reds are sending mixed signals….are they buyers or sellers as the trade deadline is approaching?  The Reds made a good move in acquiring Eddie Guardado for basically a box of used baseballs.  “Everyday Eddie” will certainly help the bullpen at the end of games.  But the trade that went down today with the Nationals is downright bizarre.

The Reds traded Austin Kearns, who was hitting .274 with 16 homers and 50 RBI, Felipe Lopez who was hitting .268 with nine homers and 30 RBI with 23 steals and young reliever Ryan Wagner to the Nationals for an interesting package of players.  Gary Majewski, who has been a decent set-up man since arriving in the majors three seasons ago, and pitching well this season (3-2, 3.58 ERA, 1.34 WHIP) was a key to this trade.  The Reds also added lefty reliever Bill Bray who was considered one of the top pitching prospects in the Nationals’ system.  Bray was 1-1, with a 3.91 ERA for Washington.  Royce Clayton, the cagey veteran shortstop, will help out defensively but he’s only hitting .269 with no homers, 27 RBI and 8 steals.  Brendan Harris, a utility IF, has a .210 career average in 100 AB.  Daryl Thompson is a right handed fireballing starting pitcher who could pay dividends for the Reds in the future. 

This trade will hurt the Reds offensively, but it’s hard to argue with the need for major-league ready relief pitching if the Reds are gonna try for that wildcard.

Brazell was an Olympic hurdler that is a great athlete….just not a great football player.  More than likely, he’ll end up returning kicks or be on the practice squad.

Many didn’t have Kilmer getting drafted at all out of Penn State.  Kilmer is a great athlete that plays hard and will probably be used on all of the special teams this season.  He has experience at both WR and DB at Penn State.