Cincinnati Bengals still on opportunity to re-sign WR Jerome Simpson-NFL News
The Cincinnati Bengals have refused to rule out re-signing of former wide receiver, Jerome Simpson, who had recently been on a brief jail term over a felony drug charge.
Bengals had earlier hinted at bringing him back off the free agency after he is done with his off-field issues and now have reiterated the stance.
It is yet to be confirmed by the player or his agent if they are looking for a comeback for the player to Bengals in future.
In the meantime, a couple of other teams, including St. Louis Rams and Minnesota Vikings, have been linked to an interest in pursuing signing of the player. The reports remained unconfirmed.
Simpson, who was handed down a 15-day imprisonment and other penalties over the charges of drug possession, aims to restart his career.
It is not clear yet if the player is going to receive a punishment, which most probably will be game suspension, from the National Football League (NFL) over violation of its anti-substance rules.
He is on the risk of facing a ban from the league and in that case, his ambitions of returning to the professional league might receive a setback and delay.
The player was charged for a felony count of drug possession after he entered into an agreement with prosecutor and pleaded guilty. The prosecution had dropped the charge of drug trafficking.
He was lucky to have successfully escaped 45 days’ imprisonment, which had been requested to the court by the prosecutors. He received a lesser amount of 15 days in prison.
Simpson was charged by the police after federal agents had tracked a parcel with his home address containing two pounds of marijuana. The agent had also raided his house and during the search found another similar quantity of the drug.
However, following his agreement with the prosecutors, they dropped the charge of drug trafficking, believing the drug was for the player’s personal use or for his friends.
The WR is expected to settle his off-field issues before the start of the 2012 regular season irrespective of the question around his future destination.
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