Chris Henry with his three children and fiancee.

As most people have heard, Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry, 26, passed away this morning due to the injuries he suffered after he fell out of the bed of a pickup truck that his fianceé had been driving. Apparently he had been arguing with his fiancé, and she got into the truck to drive away, but he jumped in the bed of the truck and then fell out shortly after.

My condolences and sympathies go out to him and his family.

This is truly a tragic event. Henry had been on the path to reviving not only his football career, but also his life. If you didn’t know, Henry had been involved in many off-field incidents where he broke the law. The league had suspended him several times for his many transgressions.

The Bengals themselves even cut him from the team at one point after his last run-in with the law. But the last incident was thrown out of court and Bengals owner Mike Brown welcomed him back onto the team, despite objections by coach Marvin Lewis.

Many fans, including myself, were outraged when Brown let Henry back onto the team. At that time, Henry represented everything that Cincinnati fans did NOT want to be associated with: a thuggish player who couldn’t abide by the law.

Over time, however, Henry seemed to remake himself into a better human being, to say nothing about him as a player. When no one wanted to give Henry a second chance, Brown allowed Henry to turn his life around. For as much as I have maligned Brown for his other short comings, this is the one incident where the fans were wrong and he was right. The fans, media, and casual bystanders did not want to see Henry as a complete human being. They (myself included) wanted to label him as a “thug” with no potential to redeem himself. People wanted to throw away him like a piece of trash.

Henry and his fianceé were supposed to get married in March. They had two young boys together, whom he was a good father to (Henry also has a daughter with another woman, whom she lives with). It seemed like he was finally settling down and being a good person. Ever since he rejoined the Bengals, he was not in trouble with the law. He was one of the hardest workers on and off the field for the Bengals. Many of his teammates called Henry a “family man.”

If you didn’t know Henry as a player for the Bengals, he was the most consistent deep threat that the Bengals had. Whenever Carson Palmer launched the ball, and if you saw Henry streaking down the field toward it, you could almost bank on the fact that he would catch the ball.

Many people predicted that he would have a big season this year. He only had a couple touchdowns and 236 yards receiving. The numbers, however, don’t tell the story of his impact on the Bengals offense. Any defensive coordinator knew that Henry could go deep on any play, and they would have to game plan against him. This would allow other players opportunities to get open. Almost immediately after the moment of his season-ending injury (broken arm) at the Nov. 8 Baltimore Ravens game, the offense struggled without him. We didn’t score any points against the Ravens after Henry left, and then we didn’t have any offensive touchdowns against the Steelers. Palmer has failed to crack 200 yards passing 3 out of the 5 games without Henry. And even then he only threw for 220 and 207 yards against the Lions and the Raiders, respectively.

The Bengals have been a shell of an offense without him. They started focusing on the running game even more after Henry left, which has been frustrating for the fans. The Bengals have recently activated wide receiver Jerome Simpson, who is supposed to be an athlete similar to Henry with his leaping abilities and catching prowess. But there is no way he will have the same impact of Henry.  It does show that the offense needs more than just Palmer throwing to Chad Ochocinco and Cedric Benson getting 3 or 4 yards a run.

I’m sure that Henry wasn’t a perfect human being after he got his life back together. Who knows why he was arguing with his fiancée? Was he at fault? His fiancée? Was it the smartest move to jump into a moving truck? No one is perfect.

Team/Player Photos: Cincinnati Bengals Team / Player Photos on Jul 23, 2010

This story, however, ceased to be a story about sports; it’s a story about the loss of a young human life. No one deserves the fate that he received, even if he hadn’t been working hard to reform himself. But that’s what makes it even more tragic. Forget his skills as a football player. I don’t care if Henry never played another down for the Bengals or any other team. He is gone and he has left three young kids behind. His life was going in the right direction and now it’s going nowhere.

This is sad day not just for the Bengals, not just for sports, but for all young people – anyone – who have aspirations to do something with their lives. Henry had become a good family man and my heart goes out to all his children, relatives, and friends who have been affected by this tragic event.