According to ESPN.com, Larry Johnson is close to signing a deal with the Cincinnati Bengals. If the team does sign the troubled free agent, it is expected to be for the prorated league minimum.
Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said on Monday that if Johnson were signed that he would be inactive on game days. Cedric Benson (who suffered a hip injury yesterday in a win over the Steelers) would remain the starter and Bernard Scott would keep his No. 2 role. LJ would essentially be added as an insurance policy and would be the fourth tailback on Cincinnati’s depth chart.
This might not be a bad move for the Bengals just in case Benson’s hip injury is worse than originally thought. If Benson is healthy, then Johnson can rot on the sidelines for the rest of the year. If he isn’t, then Johnson can rot on the sidelines for the rest of the year unless Scott showed that he couldn’t handle the full-time rushing duties.
My question is whether or not LJ would ruin the Bengals’ chemistry. That might sound like a ludicrous statement given how dysfunctional Cincinnati has been over the years, but this appears to be a different Bengals team – one that plays together and could be affected by the addition of a cancer like Johnson.
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