Hunter Bittinger over at FanSided wrote an intriguing article which suggested that the Bengals should bring back three players to be coaches. His list was Willie Anderson, Vincent Rey and Chad Johnson. Now I applaud Hunter for going out on a limb with these picks but I do not quite agree.
Willie Anderson
This is the one pick that I can get on board with that Hunter proposes. Anderson is still heavily involved with football and runs his own lineman academy. Jim Turner has 25 years of experience but the offensive line has not been pretty for a while. I blame the front office partially but why can we not develop top picks on that line? Why did Cedric Ogbuehi suck? What did Jake Fisher suck? Why does Billy Price suck? Why did Cordy Glenn not work out? Why did Bobby Hart get an extension? Someone needs to answer these questions or change how things are done. Big Willie is not only a fan favorite but he should be in Canton.
Vincent Rey -> Brian Simmons
This was one of the last names that I expected to be on his list. Rey played 9 years for the Bengals but he was never a great player. Certainly the linebackers are going to be young an inexperienced but is the mediocre Rey going to be the guy to get them to play at the next level? I have an alternate proposal and that is Brian Simmons. Simmons is not out of football, in fact he is a scout for the Jaguars. Brian Simmons was arguably one of the best linebackers in Bengals history and has clearly been looking at talent and around the game since his retirement.
Chad Johnson -> T.J. Houshmandzadeh
There has been clamoring by fans and Chad Johnson to get him back into the building. He sounds open to the idea but let’s remember how Chad left. He tried to engineer a trade out of Cincinnati to the Patriots and there is still that rumored fist fight that will never go away. We loved Chad’s energy, his showmanship, his route running and his stats. Has he been coaching or teaching young players how to be the best WR in the league? We need this with Higgins and Tate being emerging stars. I propose T.J. Houshmandzadeh as a replacement. Housh has been working in offseason WR camps and recently worked with John Ross. He recommended Tee Higgins to the Bengals and said he is the next AJ Green. Clearly he has league and player respect.
I honestly do not see any of these happening but seeing Willie Anderson and Chad Johnson excited about the 2020 Bengals and their future brings me a lot of hope that we are not just blind fans….the professionals see something special in the making as well.