I've posted this under another Kelley Washington thread, but here goes again:
I work in the sports media in Knoxville and I can tell you Washington remains one of the least popular Vols in recent history.
Washington WAS the story at UT, he was not a part of the team. Sort of like a mini-TO. Nicknaming himself, "The Future" in an ESPN Magazine article didn't help.
Oddly enough, there's some back story with him and Stallworth.
They were teammates at Tennessee. Washington let Stallworth know that he was going to turn pro early, so Stallworth, feeling like he should go, too... turned pro. Then after Stallworth had broken bread with some agents and passed the line of no return regarding eligibility, Washington announced he was coming back to UT. Stallworth tried to come back to the Vols, but he'd already let agents pay for dinners. So he HAD to go and Washington got to come back... only now there would be no other big-time wideout competition to catch balls. Washington would be THE man.
There was some bad blood between the two when this went down. Stallworth felt like Washington tricked him into leaving. Of course, Stallworth shot up the draft and made millions, so in the long run, he did alright.
The year after Washington left, Phillip Fulmer put an emphasis on returning to "team" values.
Now, none of the above fits the Patriots' history.
In addition, Washington has had serious injury problems as has been noted by others.
And he hasn't been able to crack the starting line-up for a pass-happy Bengals team.
Lastly, he spent a couple of years in minor league baseball and will be 28 when the season starts this year... so he's not a typical 25 year-old with a couple of years under his belt.
Maybe he's changed his act and the Bengals just didn't recognize his skills (after all, he is "The Future" of the wideout position), but there sure are plenty of red flags on this guy.
Buyer beware.