CINCINNATI, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Veteran Cincinnati Bengals players were not too happy when rookie Johnathan Joseph was arrested Monday on a marijuana charge.
All-Pro tackle Willie Anderson told the Cincinnati Enquirer he and other players had stressed to younger players the need to stay out of the legal justice system after eight Bengals players had run-ins with the law since Jan. 1, 2006.
Joseph, a rookie cornerback who appeared in all 16 games, was charged with drug possession when he was a passenger in a car that was pulled over in Boone County. He was the ninth Bengals' players arrested in a 13-month period.
"The thing that is kind of scary is that guys should be feeling like, 'I should make sure not to become No. 9 or No. 10,'" Anderson said.
He said the arrests of Bengals players have made the team a national joke. Quarterback Carson Palmer said fans will abandon the team if the athletes don't clean up their behavior and show professional discipline on and off the field.
