Peter King: Antonio Bryant Could Have "Chondral Defect of the knee": Marvin Lewis Defends Medical Staff

Sports Illustrated's Peter King, who tends be divisive enough that it draws the ire of Bengals fans, claims through a medical expert that Antonio Bryant had Chondral Defect of the knee.

"If you're not looking for it, you won't find it,'' this official said. "It's a long-term knee problem that won't go away.'' The ailment refers to a complicated cartilage injury to the knee.

According to wheelessonline.com, it's the articular cartilage that, if damaged, could require microfracture surgery, taking nearly four months to recover. According to kneejointsurgery.com, there are five grades, ranging from grade 0 of normal cartilage to grade IV, which is exposed subchondral bone. I know what you're asking. How could the fearless writer at Cincy Jungle know all of this? Well, I don't. Many of those words aren't even recognizable in my computer's dictionary. After a couple Google searches, I realized that our more ambitious readers would chime in on the injury after planting the seeds of curiosity.

While it's not known if Bryant actually has Chondral Defect of the knee, it goes back to the team's medical staff clearing Bryant after his physical. Begin Peter King's rant:

Whether that's the exact injury plaguing Bryant or not, it's incredible that a team investigating a free-agent wide receiver who missed most of 2009 with a knee problem would have passed him on the physical this year, handed him a four-year, $28 million contract, and then watched as he practiced one time all summer in training camp before cutting him Sunday.

Preach on, brutha.

MARVIN LEWIS DEFENDS MEDICAL STAFF. As we charted earlier Tuesday morning, the Bengals medical staff is under serious fire with the way they handled Rashad Jeanty and the questions that are arising from the team's signing of Antonio Bryant. While Bryant is probably the biggest head-scratcher, I have to believe that the misdiagnosis of Rashad Jeanty could be much more pertinent, though not financially applicable, issue. Jeanty's agent, David Canter told Joe Reedy:

"We don’t see how the Cincinnati Bengals can do this without any inclination that this was even a possibility. It’s a tad shocking how he was released and was done in a disheartening, callous and unfair manner. The only reason why he isn’t healthy and wasn’t able to pass the physical is because they failed to fully diagnose and mistreated the injury."

During a press conference Tuesday morning, Marvin Lewis stood in front of his medical staff, defending them.

“That’s unfortunate,” Lewis said. “Their agents are going to react the way they’re going to react. If I was in that position I’d probably react, too. I’ve had complete confidence … the track record and body of work proves it out that way. I think we’ve taken great strides since I came here to give our guys the very best medical care. I’m very forthright with our players. I’m pushing them every day. But the medical staff is worried about their longevity and their career because that’s the most important thing to Mike.

“No. 1 is that the guy be able to walk away from the game of professional football and have a productive life and secondly he’s able to play not just this year, but the next year and the year after that. But I’m going to push and they know that until they tell me to back down.”

As you'd expect from a guy that rarely airs dirty lockerroom secrets regarding anyone other than Chad Ochocinco, Lewis (probably rightly so) defends the medical staff, without actually addressing the issues.