If there's one signing I'm dead set against, it's the Bengals bringing defensive tackle Shaun Smith back. The Enquirer's Joe Reedy writes that the "Bengals have an interest" bringing Smith back to Cincinnati. If I say it really nice, I say, "please, no". If I say it honestly, I say, "are you f***king crazy?!"
Smith was released by the Browns during training camp, signed with Detroit and then was released the last weekend of training camp. He has also been suspended for the first four games of the season for violating the league’s anabolic steroid policy.
Over the past two seasons, Smith started 20 games for the Browns. He played two games in the UFL with Las Vegas.
Back in March 7, 2008, Smith had broken the silence over the infamous fight between Chad Johnson (as he was called at the time) and Marvin Lewis during the 2005 Wild Card game that the Bengals lost to Pittsburgh. Smith said in 2008:
"He swung on Marvin. . . . [Johnson] shattered the training room glass. . . . He swung on Marvin [and] hit Marvin in the eye. . . . Then he tried to swing on wide receivers coach Hue Jackson, who's now in Baltimore."
The Bengals refused comment. Hue Jackson told his side of the story. Smith is also known for getting into a fight with Browns quarterback Brady Quinn. Per PFT, "After a verbal altercation, between the two, Smith punched Quinn in the face." Then earlier this year, per PFT:
According to WKNR radio (via the Akron-Beacon Journal), Smith gave Browns G.M. George Kokinis an "expletive-filled tongue lashing" in a stadium hallway after Saturday's preseason game in Cleveland.
So, really. Bengals. Are you f***king serious?!