Of all the things that could have happened today, this one surprised me the most. Well, after the midget ran into my office and sang showtunes for five minutes to a group of coworkers that were clapping gleefully. Intense, bro. So in reality, this one surprised me the second most.
Bengals offensive lineman and running-the-risk-of-being-called-a-bust Andre Smith is back on the field Tuesday. He's not just standing around. He's practicing. According to Geoff Hobson, Smith is no longer eligible to be placed on the Physically Unable to Perform list because... he's PRACTICING!
“He’s lost a significant amount of weight,” said (Bengals trainer Chip) Morton, who wouldn’t elaborate. “He has a ways to go. But from what we’ve seen in this three-week process, he’s been very committed and worked very hard.”
This is good news indeed. While we've discussed, at length, Smith's struggle to get going with the Bengals, it's actually nice that he's back to practicing. We urge the Bengals, however, not to conduct non-contact drills. For the love of god, no non-contact drills.
With Smith finally joining the team, it should give him enough time to get ready for the regular season, provided everything goes accordingly. After that, we can finally put this right tackle rotation thing to bed and get back to watching midgets signing showtunes.