Dan Pompei

Change can be overrated, but what is happening in Cincinnati should be embraced and celebrated.

Though they might trip and fall a few times while they learn the way, the Bengals will be a better team for the direction they are headed.

Releasing outlaw wide receiver Chris Henry will hurt the Bengals’ ability to line up in three wide receivers and make big plays down the field, but it will help the moral fiber of the locker room.

Besides, they really didn't have a choice with Henry. If they didn't cut him, Henry probably would have been suspended for a very long time by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

Knowing that, coach Marvin Lewis was not counting on Henry. "This is as I anticipated," Lewis told me. "We've been fiddling around with it all the way through. I thought [Henry] had a very difficult road to go. I didn't count on him a year ago and I wasn't counting on him anymore this year."

The Bengals have learned some hard lessons by drafting players with character issues like Henry and Odell Thurman. They say they won't make the same mistakes again.

This team needs leaders, stand-up guys in the locker room who can be counted on. And the Bengals have an outstanding opportunity in the draft to acquire some of those types of players with four picks in the top 100, including the ninth overall.

The Bengals probably will take a wide receiver with one of those picks. They need to replace Henry, obviously. And they really don't have a single receiver they can count on for the long haul.

T.J. Houshmandzadeh's contract expires after the 2008 season. The Bengals have been trying to sign him to an extension, and he looks more valuable with each passing day. He is not attending the Bengals offseason program, which is a concern.

Chad Johnson continues to squawk about being traded. He has threatened to sit out the season.

The Bengals are resolute that he will not be dealt. Lewis, in fact, is returning Johnson's fire.

"Stand on your beliefs," Lewis said. "Do what you say you're going to do. I don't know what he's going to do, but we've got to believe he's going to do what he said. So we are set to move on. Our team knows that and they understand that. That's the way we'll be playing it and we'll be ready to go that way, which is not bad."

You can't read too much into words spoken in April. Both sides have too much to lose for Johnson to sit out the season.  But certainly the Bengals must consider and prepare for the possibility.

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One way the Bengals are planning on replacing some of their offensive firepower is to play more two tight end sets and fewer three wide receiver sets.

That's one of the reasons they signed free-agent tight end Ben Utecht from the Colts. They also should be considered a strong possibility to draft another tight end — someone such as Southern Cal's Fred Davis, Notre Dame's John Carlson or Texas A&M's Martellus Bennett — in the second or third round.

Playing more two tight end sets can help the Bengals' running game as well as their passing game. "We felt there were some different things we could do offensively and some evolution we needed to make that would help our team," Lewis said. "We'll do more two tight end stuff than we've done and I think that's going to help us in all downs."

These Bengals might not look like the Bengals we are accustomed to. But that might not be a bad thing.

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