Hello world.
Adam Jones, the feisty cornerback and punt returner who re-built his career with the Bengals when he went from ashes to all-star as a 2015 Pro Bowler, returned to Paul Brown Stadium Sunday to mix business with pleasure.
Doing some work for the I Am Athlete podcast before Sunday's training camp allowed Jones to check on the new generation of Bengals he followed enthusiastically to the Super Bowl.
And on an old friend.
"Mike Brown saved my life. I owe him forever and forever," Jones said of the Bengals president, the man that gave him that third chance in 2010. "I love Mike Brown. Mr. Brown and I have a relationship that is a little different than anybody else's. The first thing he asked me is, 'How is Trin?' He still calls her the Miracle Baby."
Triniti Alexandria Jones arrived during a training camp 11 years ago. She was born more than three months premature at 1.9 pounds, but she's almost 12 now, always healthy, and she planned to be with the rest of her family at practice Sunday.
That includes the two sons of late Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry who Jones adopted, Chris, Jr., and Demarcus. The 6-3, 182-pound Chris, a freshman at Clermont Northeast High School in the eastern suburbs of Cincinnati, already has a scholarship to Ohio State and a stunning resemblance to his father.
"I told Mr. Brown when he saw him he was probably going to have a few tears," Jones said.
_Jones, who retired after playing seven games for the 2018 Broncos, turns 39 next month. He says he can't play anymore, the groin surgery saw to that, but he would have loved to have played with quarterback Joe Burrow.
"I think my playoff career would have been a little different. A lot different, said Jones, who played in five postseason games for the Bengals as well as 100 in the regular season.
"He's unbelievable. Sometimes you don't think quarterbacks have that dog dog because they carry themselves a different way. He's a dog. The way he gets hit and can keep coming back and still keeps getting the ball out and still keeps playing without thinking about getting hurt, you can't measure that."
_Bengals slot cornerback Mike Hilton is also from Atlanta and he grew up watching Jones and he likes it when you say he plays with the same edge. Jones has given back offering him tips and advice.
"Especially him being a nickel corner. I've watched it all. I really enjoyed watching him," Hilton said. "One of my favorite players growing up.
"I've picked his brain Bengals-wise and football-wise. When I came to the Bengals, he told me to keep the same attitude. He obviously likes the way I play, how I play physical and my attitude. He told me to keep the same attitude and keep going a day at a time."
_Undrafted rookie cornerback Allan George has turned some heads. He looks to be making a run at the practice squad, but if he gets cut he's going to be just fine. That's why he went to Vanderbilt.
"You go to Vandy," George said before practice Sunday, "it sets you up for 40 years instead of four years in college."
He majored in medicine, health and society with an eye toward going into health administration. His wife Katlyn, a former Vandy cheerleader, is already in the field as a health care consultant for a company based on the outskirts of Nashville.
"We're apart. She's still down there but she's very supportive. We talk every night after meetings," George said.
