Gee, ya think!
http://www.profootballtalk.com/category/rumor-mill/Bengals receiver Chad Johnson’s head has completed its full 360-degree rotation, and it now has returned to its original position.
We think.
In an interview with Bengals.com, Johnson acknowledged his offseason antics. “I did everything under the sun to get out of here,” he said. “I acted psycho. I posed my case. I talked with my owner, who loves me dearly. He must. Those [trade] offers were unheard of. And he still said no. Really, I’m not that good.”
And so begins the process of undoing the damage to his relationship with the franchise and its fans. Begininning in late January and continuing into April, Johnson said plenty of negatives things that can’t easily be forgotten. He quieted down only after the draft came and went, which signified that he truly wouldn’t be traded.
“I love them,” he says now of the Bengals fans. “I hope they understand it’s just business. I felt in that three-month period the best thing for me was to get out of Cincinnati. I was just going through some things and I thought it was the best move for me. Obviously not. I’m still here.”
He says that his endless ”trade me” antics weren’t about the money. We believe otherwise. We think it started as a private request for yet another contract extension, that it expanded to a private request for a trade that would yield the desired extension from his next team, and that it then escalated to a series of public demands for a trade under the guise of wanting to play for a better team.
Meanwhile, the Redskins reportedly were willing to give him a new deal with $21 million in guaranteed money.
Now that Johnson realizes that he has no leverage to force the Bengals to trade him or to pay him, he wisely has moved on.
In so doing, Johnson has cozied up to quarterback Carson Palmer again, and Johnson already is talking about an 1,800-yard season. Johnson also admits that, when he said he wouldn’t show up for minicamp or training camp, he was lying.
Said Johnson in April: “I will not be at any mandatory camp. I will not be at training camp. I will not be anywhere in Cincinnati. . . . This is not a joke. I really don’t want to play for the Bengals. Period.”
Says Johnson now: “Come on. Did you really think I wouldn’t come?”
Before anyone in Cincinnati forgives and/or forgets, ask yourselves this question: Will he do the same thing after the 2008 season? Will he do it during the 2008 season, if/when the going gets tough?
It really is an amazing turn of events, given that Chad seemed to be keenly aware of the pitfalls associated with being a high-profile receiver. Consider these comments that he made to Karl Taro Greenfield of Sports Illustrated in 2006, via the incredibly useful SI.com “vault”:
“I want to be the positive bad boy. If you can have all that excitement and thrills without all the negative connotations,” Johnson said at the time.
Also, regarding Terrell Owens’ highly-publicized efforts to get out of Philadelphia in 2005, Johnson said that he would never make the same mistake. “I just don’t handle my business that way. I’m smart. I’m not stupid.”
In Cincinnati, somebody is bound to be stupid. And it either will be the folks who buy what Chad is suddenly selling, or it will be Chad, for believing that anyone will buy it.
