07-16-2019, 11:11 PM
(07-16-2019, 05:51 PM)kdgjr Wrote: Interesting take from Doc...
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/blogs/daugherty-blog/2019/07/16/tml-reds-cubs-nl-central-standings-clint-boling-bengals-ol-uc-fb/1742992001/
THE COLUMN TODAY was on Bengals guard Clint Boling, who retired Monday after 8 rock-solid seasons here. I praised his Everyman craftsmanship and his ability to play hurt. Boling was an unsung component of MLewis’ playoff teams. He’s just 30, isn’t disabled, seems to have a clear head and made millions of dollars. Good for him.
Then I thought more about it.
He saw docs for leg pain a couple days after the season. They discovered a pulmonary embolism in one of his lungs a few days after that. Boling did his health homework and decided to retire for the sake of his family. All well and good.
Why did it take him from January to now to make that call?
Nothing changed for him physically. A lengthy bit of agonizing was expected. Seven months?
He went to minicamp, he had a year left on a five-year, $26 mil deal. He said how excited he was to learn a new system. And then he retired.
I’d never question Boling’s reasoning. It’s completely logical. Logic doesn’t always rule in pro sports. It shares a seat with emotion. Boling started every game the last two years. He has escaped serious injury, he’s just 30. No doc told him he couldn’t play this year.
With Jonah Williams out for the season, Boling would have been vital to this O-line, if only for his supreme professionalism. To retire 10 days before camp starts strikes me as odd.
I should have asked Boling this:
Was there anything you didn’t like about the new O-line coach? Anything that caused you to wonder if playing for Jim Turner would be worth the effort? Turner is a former Marine, who coaches like one. His methods have been questioned in the past. He’s never questioned himself. Being profanely berated might be OK for a rookie. For a guy in his 9th year?
Regardless, Boling’s exit this close to camp leaves the team in a lurch. And I’m thinking a fast start for this new, inexperienced staff might be close to mandatory, to keep the veterans on board.
I said in This Space when Zac Taylor was hired that he needed to bring in some assistants who were veterans at their jobs. Shoulders Taylor could lean on. For whatever reason, he didn’t. And the Bengals are not the Rams. They would not and did not go heavily into the free-agent market. Is this roster any better than it was last July? Only if everyone stays healthy, and that simply doesn’t happen in the NFL. The O-line surely won’t be better.
And now a rock of the line has retired, healthy and just 30 years old.
What say you, Mobsters?
That might be a bit of a reach. I have zero doubt that the team knew what he was going to do long before it was officially announced to the public.
It would be interesting to know if he'd have done the same if he was coming back to a team with serious postseason aspirations. If he's financially secure, there's no reason to come back and get pounded on in a rebuild season as this one is likely to be.
