[It's very important to note that no deal has actually been signed and that this is regarding an unconfirmed anonymous report from Pro Football Talk. Joe Reedy confirms that no deal is in place yet but that it "looks like it is going to happen"]
According to Pro Football Talk, Adam "Pacman" Jones will be signing with the Cincinnati Bengals. Bengals nation turned into a wild fire after reports surfaced that the team was working out the troubled cornerback (talk about spinning a phrase) on Tuesday. The move is likely to help solidify the team's cornerback position. After you get past Johnathan Joseph and Leon Hall, the Bengals will have a competing tandem between rookie Brandon Ghee and sophomore Morgan Trent as the third-string cornerback. Though talk has rumored that Ghee will become more of a free safety/cornerback hybrid.
Even though Bengals fans are confident that the team can sign most players with troubled pasts and turn them into a positive (read Cedric Benson, Bernard Scott and even Chris Henry last year), many (read mostly every breathing Bengals fan) isn't on board with the signing -- especially considering that the last time Jones played a regular season football game was December 28, 2008. Or 493 days.
I would caution one thing that PFT points out:
In March, Pacman's camp was at one point putting out the word that he would be signing with the Lions. The Lions, though interested, never made a serious play for him.
Hope? Maybe a fool's hope.
Either way, we're not sure if this is a signing to solidify the team's depth in the secondary, or if the team is simply signing him and having him start from scratch -- doing everything right on the field and off the field (ala Matt Jones).
Rather than picking up carpal tunnel syndrome to talk about the baggage that Jones brings, we decided to copy and paste his Wiki legal section, which you can read after the jump.
On July 14, 2005 Jones was arrested on charges of assault and felony vandalism stemming from a nightclub altercation. On September 5, 2005, Jones was a guest at the annual Nashville Sports Council Kickoff Luncheon. After a loud verbal tantrum in which he was told to wait in line for his vehicle later that evening, Jones was counseled by the police. He also refused to pay for any valet services used that evening, because he didn't have money at the time. In October 2005, in a petition filed by the State of West Virginia, it was alleged that Jones had not made regular and sufficient contact with his probation officer and that he did not report his July arrest in Nashville in a timely fashion. The court ordered the probation extended for a period of 90 days, although the state requested it to be extended one year.
On August 25, 2006, Jones was arrested in Murfreesboro, Tennessee for disorderly conduct and public intoxication after claiming that a woman stole his wallet. She claimed that she did not steal anything and Jones spat on her. Police officers said they ordered Jones to leave several times, but he refused, continuing to shout profanities at the woman. A judge granted him six months probation on the conditions that he stays out of further trouble and away from the nightclub.[42] On October 26, 2006. Jones was cited for misdemeanor assault for allegedly spitting in the face of a female student from Tennessee State University during a private party at Club Mystic, a Nashville nightclub. He was suspended by the Titans for one game and was scheduled to be booked on the charge on November 17, 2006.
Jones was also set to appear in a Fayetteville, Georgia court in 2007 for his February 2006 incident on subpoenas for felony and misdemeanor obstruction of justice charges for an incident outside a home. The charges of marijuana possession in the same state were dismissed.[43]
On May 7, 2007, Jones was stopped at 12:45 a.m. on Interstate 65 heading into downtown after an officer clocked him on radar at 79 mph (127 km/h) in a 55 mph (89 km/h) zone. Jones was driving his red 2004 Cadillac XLR Roadster which he won back at police auction last fall. According to a report in the Nashville City Paper, police had seized the Cadillac—a car with Jones' nickname "Pacman" stitched in the headrests—in an April 2006 cocaine bust. The car was not registered to Jones then, but Jones told a local TV reporter he had loaned the Cadillac to Darryl Jerome Moore for a music video. Police called Darryl Jerome Moore who had the car the main target of their investigation.[44]
On June 18, 2007, Jones was sought by police for questioning after a shooting at an Atlanta strip club allegedly involved members of his entourage. According to police at the scene, Jones was not present during the shooting, and is not being charged.[45]
Jones was suspended from the NFL for the entire 2007 season for off-the-field conduct.[46] During his suspension Jones signed with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, despite an agreement between TNA and the Titans organization that he would only have a "non-physical" role in the company,[47] and went on to the TNA World Tag Team Championship with Ron Killings. He also established a record label, "National Street League Records", and performed as one half of the rap duo Posterboyz.[40]