Cincinnati Bengals: What decision on Eric Reid proves

The Cincinnati Bengals recently took a visit from free agent safety Eric Reid, but he remains unsigned — ostensibly because of his decision to kneel.

When it comes to transactions and decisions made by teams about players, we are always told that it is a business decision. For the most part, that is understandable and makes sense. Sometimes, finances are mismanaged elsewhere on the roster and someone has to suffer for it. Often, the price being asked for by the player (or what they are already signed to) doesn’t line up with what a franchise deems agreeable for the production that is expected to be provided.

The excuse of things simply being a “business decision” has its limits, however, and the situation between the Cincinnati Bengals and Eric Reid surpasses them. For those who don’t know, recently Reid took a free agency visit with the Bengals.

During said visit, Reid was asked by Bengals owner Mike Brown about his kneeling during the national anthem last year. Apparently, Brown didn’t like the answer he was given, because despite Reid’s public claim that he will not be continuing that particular form of protest this season, as of this writing, Reid has remained unsigned by this or any team.

This, on one hand, would seem to be quite at odds with the way Cincinnati usually conducts business. Remember that this is a team which has had countless individuals under contract who’ve run amok with the law since the turn of the century. Entering 2017, only two teams had more than the 44 arrests Cincinnati players had accumulated since 2000.

In that time, they’ve stuck with two of the top three individuals in arrest numbers for multiple seasons (Adam Jones, Chris Henry), and even saw a year (2006) with nearly double-digit arrests. Just last year, they traded up in the draft for Joe Mixon, who was caught on camera punching a woman in her face during his college days.

More from NFL Spin Zone

Go beyond just the legal issues and it makes it even more ridiculous to simply believe it to be a business decision. Look at players like Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens, who didn’t bring those same legal problems to the mix but were prominent faces of the dreaded “distraction” label teams claim to care so much about. Even still, Cincinnati believed they would make the team better so they spend the money necessary to employ them.

Vontaze Burfict has so many on-field issues and is today’s poster child for dirty players; despite his availability a constant question due to ever-looming suspensions just waiting to happen, Cincinnati extended his contract heading into the 2017 season — and will likely keep him until the end of it despite PED suspensions now being part of the package with him.

Violence against women, gun charges, drug charges, breaking of federal and state laws, ethical dilemmas, it hasn’t mattered. Regardless of the infractions, Cincinnati has consistently stuck with players despite any number of damaging problems they bring to the table.

This isn’t a money issue either. Cincinnati has plenty of cap space available, and while Reid is a really good safety, the market for his position has been surprisingly mellow. Only two safeties have earned eight-figure contracts this offseason, and neither of them even make $5.5 million per season. Reid is arguably the best of the group, but it’d be surprising for him to make much more than that on a multi-year deal based on where the market is for the position right now.

The argument used against Reid’s former teammate Colin Kaepernick in his own free agency hopes fall short of competency as well. Skill-wise, Reid would immediately be the most dynamic safety on this roster if he were signed; if he didn’t outright take someone’s spot his presence could allow the usage of more three-safety looks. Better play puts the team closer to more wins, which will drive excitement and it turn drive the team’s business in a positive direction.

Legal, non-violent protests at any point in a career are apparently too far for the Bengals owner to stomach despite the positive on-field impact a guy can provide, though. According to Pro Football Talk, he’s planning to prohibit kneeling by his team this season, and though Reid has said he won’t kneel any longer it doesn’t appear he’s going to be welcomed into the mix here.

The fact that these protests ever became an issue is ridiculous to begin with, but there’s little more foolish than actively declining to improve your team because a player either has or might want to do something as benign as take part in his legal, constitutional right to protest (in an exceedingly peaceful manner, no less).

That’s not making a business decision; that’s overstepping boundaries and thrusting a personal preference about how things should be done onto others. Brown and other owners can continue to hide behind their viewpoint wrapped in a cloak of flawed logic, but cratering to their fear of monetary repercussions from one angle just makes them vulnerable to losing even more.

Most importantly, it shifts the focus away from a simple truth of their industry: as long as you’re winning, these problems wouldn’t have any weight behind them. A team with some of the league’s activist leaders just won the Super Bowl; think those fans are worried one bit about pre-game kneeling? The teams where it became the biggest negative talking point were the teams who were already bad. If there was no kneeling, the anger of fans would have just been directed at piss-poor play; instead, they got to deflect and make the protests the target of their hatred, rather than the team which failed to assemble a winning product.

Next: NFL Schedule 2018: Best game from each week

The owners know all this of course, and the Bengals’ meeting with Reid hints at what they all are still preparing to do: insulate themselves from criticism and distract their audience from anything that might affect their bottom dollar in the slightest. If they weren’t, situations like Reid’s or Kaepernick’s would have been resolved before they even began, and teams — and the league — would be at a better place.

Home/Cincinnati Bengals