Antonio Bryant Released, But Still Makes $7 Million

CINCINNATI — Wide receiver Antonio Bryant was released on Sunday by the Cincinnati Bengals, who signed him to a four-year, $28 million deal last March thinking he would be their long-term complement to Chad Ochocinco.

It's the second time in two years that the Bengals went after a high-profile free agent receiver, then changed their minds soon after signing him. They got Laveranues Coles to replace T.J. Houshmandzadeh last year, then released him after only one season.

Bryant and Terrell Owens worked out for the Bengals in March. Cincinnati chose Bryant, who was coming off an injury-marred season. He had surgery to repair cartilage damage in his left knee last year, and caught only 39 passes for Tampa Bay.

The Bengals gave him the big contract, including roughly $7 million in first-year bonuses, convinced that the knee was fine. It began bothering him over the summer, and he wasn't able to practice with the team during training camp. The Bengals signed Owens to a one-year deal at the start of camp, giving them another option.

Owens quickly developed into the Bengals' top receiver in preseason. Bryant missed all four preseason games because of the knee problem. Bryant said the muscles around the knee weren't strong enough to let him cut at full speed.

The move came shortly after Coles was released by the Jets, who signed him after Cincinnati let him go.

Also on Sunday, the Bengals put safety Gibril Wilson on injured reserve with damaged ligaments in his left knee and waived rookie long snapper Mike Windt.

Comments

[RobinSeattle]

10:25 PM on 09/01/2010

What I don't get is why they let him go rather than just putting him on the inactive list until his leg heals. Or does that count against your total roster allowance? I mean, this still counts against the Bengals cap, right? I don't really follow pro football. I know they can't put him on injured reserve since that would 86 him for the season.

[CitizenIndie]

08:45 PM on 09/01/2010

"Antonio Bryant Released, But Still Makes $7 Million "


Meh, there's plenty of players in the NFL making the bare minimum who do loads of hard jobs like special teams and get their bell rung, so it all balances out in the end, so it all works out in the end if you think about it.

[Lance Uppercut]

12:24 AM on 08/31/2010

"NFL Receiver Paid $7 Million To Do Almost Nothing"
*picture of black man yawning*

HuffPost with yet another misleading and borderline racist headline. Shame on you.

[JesseEHenthorn]

04:02 PM on 09/01/2010

Sarcasm?

This is all true.

[maxfax]

11:36 PM on 08/30/2010

$7million? That's nothing compared to the owners earnings, and the government provided tax breaks they receive, and never earn.

[rikster]

07:14 PM on 08/30/2010

when I grow up..I want to be an NFL General Manager and have lots of monopoly money to play with..!

[maxfax]

11:37 PM on 08/30/2010

No, you want to be a team owner who devours government sponsored tax breaks.

[mojo filter]

06:59 PM on 08/30/2010

Aging players coming off major injuries rarely work out, but teams still keep signing them to big contracts.

[IQ]

06:46 PM on 08/30/2010

By your logic, if an online politically based website(wink..wink)
hired someone to write for its newly founded sports section and
proceeded to sign him/her to an exclusive rights signing
Bonus to secure his/her services thereby keeping him/her from
the competition. Subsequently said journalist is found to, oh I don't know,
have a chronic hang nail or is found incompetent and knows nothing
about sports or the business of sport and is fired.
Would said journalist keep or give back the signing bonus???
.....It's business!!

[Hehlol]

12:54 AM on 09/01/2010

I find something incompetent in this situation, and it isn't the journalist...maybe it's IQ.

[jazkiljok]

06:19 PM on 08/30/2010

All pro athletes are a bet. In football the bet is more intense because of the frequency of injury. Agents attempt to get big contracts for the players with most potential because it's an injury like this that will end a career and all they get is the guaranteed portion. The money is only ridiculous in the same way entertainment, ceo's and other occupations are.

[cplKlyde]

05:58 PM on 08/30/2010

Typical of the Bungles.

[HGfromOmaha]

11:25 PM on 08/30/2010

While I don't appreciate the Bungles reference, I will state that Mike Brown hasn't done us any favors.

You must be either a dreaded Squeeler fan or Clowns fan. Ugggg...

And no, I'm no bandwagoner! Been faithful to my sucky team for decades. Even when we only won 4 games max.

[JesseEHenthorn]

04:03 PM on 09/01/2010

Well... he has put together a playoff caliber team. It's been rough, and a lot of chances have been taken, but thats the NFL with a small market team.

[dubbleplusgood]

05:34 PM on 08/30/2010

i would joke to make him a CEO, but that would be a lot more pay for even less results.

[jayquintana]

05:21 PM on 08/30/2010

Even Al "Let's give boatloads of money to Javon Walker" Davis is going, "this was a bad signing."

[Flight]

05:18 PM on 08/30/2010

Bryant isn't the only one who draws a big paycheck for doing nothing. These people do absolutely nothing except pass or run with a football. Dribble and shoot a basketball. Hit and catch a baseball. Etc. I refuse to buy tickets or merchandise to support the outlandish salaries when the scales of economy cannot support such a business over the long term. The NBA has been sufferering at the turnstiles for several years with no sign of improving either. But, you won't hear the owners or Stern talk about addressing the real problems they are facing.

[Mister Natural]

10:12 PM on 08/30/2010

I would agree, and also share with you my enthusiastic interest in serious athletes who play American Football, not just for no pay, but they must PAY to play our sport, in Europe. As a close fan of the Prague Panthers, I can tell you it is a whole different attitude over there. These guys play for the pure joy of paling the game, usually well into their 30's. There are no multi-million $$ contracts, no spoiled players. In fact these guys play hurt most of the time without complaint. There are teams like this all over Europe, but the Prague Panthers have the best attitude toward American Football, and toward life in general. Look for a documentary film about this time sometime in the next year.

[HarukoHaruhara]

03:41 PM on 08/30/2010

Antonio Bryant? I know he put up good numbers for Tampa, but he was a cancer in San Francisco.

[booboo111]

03:27 PM on 08/30/2010

Who said the economy was bad?...................not A.B., that's fer sure.

[Totto]

02:38 PM on 08/30/2010

Are there ever ANY articles in "Sports" that speak well of black athletes? The same can be said about the quite negative perspective of the President. "Liberal" website? I don't think so!

[mdlawyer2]

02:57 PM on 08/30/2010

How does this article in any way speak ill of a black athlete? If anything, it speaks volumes about stupid white owners.

[Totto]

03:34 PM on 08/30/2010

Over time, read the general bias against black athletes and black people in general. A very distorted picture of black America is painted on these pages.

[PC0207]

04:15 PM on 08/30/2010

I agree with both of you. HuffPo doesn't seem to give us favorable articles regarding black athletes; however, in this particular case, its not the athlete. Its the stupid owners and I'm sure Antonio Bryant is not complaining. Hell, I know I wouldn't!

[wkb2texans]

04:12 PM on 08/30/2010

May I point out that sports, like society in general, holds responsible those guilty of malfesance. If you "do the crime" you do the time. Black men, generally speaking, have a higher crime rate and more off field incidents than other people, be they white, brown, or "fill in the blank." Check out the DOJ site for further validation of this perspective. It has nothing to do with the reporters, but those whom are reported on.

[abuja19]

04:31 PM on 08/30/2010

Actually, I'm pretty sure that white men commit more crimes than black men in this country (I mean, just look at the whole history of the USA!) Don't forget to include 'white-collar' crimes which costs society more and is grossly underreported....

[mattwg440]

01:02 PM on 09/01/2010

Holds responsible those guilty of malfeasance, yeah tell that to the black men and women who built this country pre industrial revolution. Get a clue, read a book, something