Quick Snap: Mike Brown's perspective on character

With free agency and the NFL draft approaching over the next few months, we're reminded about the character quagmire. Anthony approached the topic this week, reacting to the news that Greg Hardy's domestic violence case was dismissed. Do you care if the Bengals go after a player with character issues?

Regardless of your opinion, Mike Brown's view on this subject has evolved. At one point the Bengals were fine with character guys, believing that second-chances and redemption stories would benefit the Bengals -- who were deficient on talent. The idea is that grabbing players that other people avoided would accelerate the talent pool with little cost. Sometimes it worked... other times it didn't.

"We made a conscious effort to draft and bring in good people," Brown said before Tuesday's kickoff luncheon in 2013. "I think with (Andy) Dalton and (A.J.) Green as examples, with (Andrew) Whitworth as an example, this is how we want to be perceived. Over the years we've dug ourselves into a hole. I'm probably the one who did it. We brought in guys and worked with them. Sometimes they came around and sometimes they didn't."

Around the same time, head coach Marvin Lewis reiterated Browns' point:

"I don't think Chris Henry, we would pick today," Lewis said via Dan Wetzel with Yahoo! Sports. "See, Chris had social issues [at the time of the draft but] he hadn't really gotten into legal issues. Chris would have a harder time today just because we would be more sketchy on if he could handle the day to day of being a good teammate."

"I think there was always a feeling that boys will be boys," Lewis continued. "There are some boys that just can't get over being boys. And unfortunately, the organization had to learn that."