As first seen on Twitter here linking to the initial report from WCPO here, Bengals Wide Receiver Maurice Purify was arrested early this morning following "a disturbance at a Northern Kentucky bar."
With the Bengals' recent moves at Wide Receiver and Tight End, you've got to think this may not end well for Purify regarding his Bengals career. The young man was given his chance (at the behest of one Carson Palmer) last season and contributed in such a manner as to get himself released to waivers thereafter. Perhaps it's a misunderstanding and perhaps it is not, but it highlights a trend we continue to see among our athletes, being that many of them seem to be completely unable to understand the situation they are in. Whether Maurice was doing anything wrong or not is largely irrelevant, as he placed himself in a situation which could end up poorly to say the very, very least (see Ben Roethlisberger and Adam "Pacman" Jones).
I'm sure the team will have no comment until the legal system is able to take its course as per usual, but I'm afraid this will toll the end for Purify. When one is going to struggle to get ahead of folk like Chad Ochocinco, Antonio Bryant, Andre Caldwell, Jordan Shipley, Quan Cosby and Matt Jones/Dezmon Briscoe as it is, one perhaps should not go out to bars and get one's self into trouble with the law.
For my money, Purify's out. As much as I crow about not caring what players do off the field as long as it doesn't impact their play on the field, the Bengals have gathered enough "character concern" players at this point that, I don't know, maybe the line that needs to be walked for balance and chemistry is a bit finer than we all hope. I think this would be a good time to make an example of someone and make it clear to the rest of the team that stupid behavior won't be tolerated in the Cincinnati Bengals locker room. This is a guy that Palmer wanted brought to the 53-man roster from the Practice Squad last year, so he's not a completely unknown commodity to these guys. Yes, we know that many of you have made mistakes in the past, and we brought you to Cincinnati knowing that. However, when you hit this locker room door and that FieldTurf at Paul Brown Stadium, you'd best have figured out how to stop messing up.
In the meanwhile, as we listen to the cacophony of "Bengals are criminals" chants and ballyhoos from the anti-Bengals crowd, let's all take solace in the fact that as of this writing Purify hasn't been reported to have raped anyone or caused any scenes that ended in security guards losing their lives.
Or boarded any airplanes with a loaded gun with a round in the chamber.
Or thrown his drink in anyone's face.
Or beat his wife/girlfriend/fiancee.
Or been accessory to murder.
Or been involved in the moving and sale of illegal drugs.
Or, well...you get the picture.