04-26-2019, 09:57 AM
(04-26-2019, 09:53 AM)RunKijanaRun Wrote: By now, anyone reading this post has certainly seen the rather disturbing clips of Joe Mixon and Tennessee DL draftee Jeffrey Simmons.
Both clips - both incidents - were ugly and disturbing.
The Bengals took a lot of heat for taking Mixon in the 2nd, even though he unquestionably had 1st round talent, because of his off-the-field issues. But everyone vouched for Mixon. Coaches, friends, teammates, etc. Everyone said he was a high character guy who made a really bad mistake. And thus far, all that appears to be true. But the Bengals org was surrounded by bad press for days following the selection. It was one of the lead stories on the front page of ESPN.com. It was everywhere.
Fast forward to last night - Tennessee takes Simmons at #20 overall, even though he is coming off an ACL injury. ESPN definitely mentioned the "incident" and even showed a clip. But no one questioned the Titans org for taking him. Not in any meaningful way.
Casual NFL fans likely hadn't even heard of Simmons until last night. Highly doubtful those casual fans knew about his past. The bigger story with Simmons was his injury.
We have 2 very similar situations - both teams took a talented player who had character concerns due to disturbing incidents involving physical violence towards women. The Bengals waited until round 2; the Titans took theirs with their #20 overall pick. Having seen both videos, in my opinion, Simmons' was worse. He hit that woman while she was down multiple times. And I am going to stop there because they're both disgusting and and I don't dare try to lessen the severity of either. Let's just call them even.
So what are the variables here? Why so much outcry over Mixon and so little over Simmons?
Mixon's suffered from recency. His happened the year of his pick; Simmons' happened a couple of years ago. That's a factor.
But try to imagine the outcry if the Bengals took Simmons at 11. There's your answer.
Guys like PacMan Jones and the late Chris Henry have tarnished this org's reputation immeasurably. And while many will argue Burfict did more harm, I argue that he was the victim of this reputation - not a catalyst. But that's another topic.
The Titans are no stranger to legal troubles. The Steelers have as many thugs as we ever had. The Kansas City Chiefs had to cut Kareem Hunt for hitting a woman (he was then picked up by the Browns) and will likely have to cut Tyreek Hill for domestic violence issues. But no one associates the Chiefs with the Bengals in terms of employing bad dudes. The Browns took Hunt with little to no fanfare. The NFL as a whole has a checkered rep. But no team more so than the Bengals.
And I have thought about this and thought about it, and I really don't know the answer as to why.
Why does the NFL hate us? Why is our reputation so lousy?
mixons happened before he was in college I believe he never had an incident during college
it happened back in 2014.
