There's such an obsession with big-name players this offseason, that any move that doesn't elicit a detailed statistical tornado of awesome, the move is generally considered terrible. For example the team's running back situation
John Griffin (UMASS) and Jonathan Williams (East Carolina), for example, were signed as undrafted free agents early last week and both running backs are benefiting from the post NFL Lockout procedure that's preventing free agents from practicing until Thursday (Aug. 4). Along with Bernard Scott sitting for a couple of days with tightness in his hamstring, Cedric Benson and Brian Leonard are forced to wait until the new league year begins later this week.
Along with Baylor's Jay Finley, the team's seventh round pick during the 2011 NFL Draft, the rookie running backs taking every snaps since Sunday are impressive enough to get Marvin Lewis chatting.
"(Williams and Griffin) both guys caught my eye in what they were doing," Lewis said. "Finley's got great quickness. He shows an ability to make people miss. Yesterday in the one on one drills with the linebackers he did a great job separating away from the backers. He gets his shoulders turned up the field. That's what you saw on his college tape at Baylor. Once he got that crack, he had the speed to go the 60, 70 yards."
Finley broke Baylor's single-season record with 1,218 yards rushing as a senior last season, earning him second-team All-Big 12 honors from multiple publications. The Bengals also signed Hampton's Steven Robinson.
It'll be interesting how the team's running back situation pans out, considering the emphasis to return to the largely successful rushing offense from the team's 2009 AFC Championship season.