Adam Jones Denies Wrong-Doing: Why Pacman Stays With The Bengals

Bengals cornerback Adam Jones was arrested at 2:35 a.m. Sunday morning while celebrating his wife's birthday at a downtown bar in Cincinnati. Charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, Jones has denied any wrong-doing. According to court documents:

Once inside the bar, officials reportedly found Jones acting out and shouting profanities. He was then escorted outside and asked to calm down. Jones allegedly continued to be disruptive outside, yelling more profanities and causing a scene. That's when police tried to arrest the 27-year-old but he resisted by tightening his arms and pulling away.

Jones questions the report, asking why he'd resist arrest, especially after recent neck surgery.

"I didn't resist arrest. I'm in a neck brace. How am I resisting arrest," said Jones. "I just had surgery. So why would I be resisting arrest? It doesn't make sense for me to resist arrest."

We still feel that caution should be applied when judging Jones, if only because the police have wronged a Bengals player in the past (Matthias Askew) and sometimes the facts don't appear as solid after initial reports (Cedric Benson).

At the same time, it might not matter. Jason points out that if the charges stick, Jones stands a pretty good chance at being dismissed from the team and NFL.

Even if Jones isn't convicted of these charges, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell could still slap a suspension on Jones. He's done it before. And don't think for a minute that since Jones was arrested during the NFL lockout that Goodell's reach is limited. That would be like saying mother can't ground you because you weren't at home, no matter how strongly you make your case that you weren't the one throwing rocks at passing cars. Jones is also a special case, because of his history.

If Joseph doesn't return and Jones is slapped with a four-game suspension, that leaves the Bengals in a predicament with Leon Hall, Morgan Trent, Brandon Ghee, Korey Lindsey and probably Jonathan Wade. Not necessarily the most dominating bunch; though a serviceable group when worse comes to worse.

At the same time, even if Jones is exonerated, he still shouldn't be automatically considered as the team's starting cornerback if Joseph leaves for free agency; which has nothing to do with last weekend.

If we were to make a totally uninformed decision, Jones will play with the Bengals in 2011 whether he's convicted of his charges or not, which includes a possible suspension. As to whether the Bengals keep him in 2012, that really depends on how much they value Johnathan Joseph this year and Leon Hall next year.