An Unorganized Mess of Ocho Cinco Thoughts

I'm disappointed that Ocho Cinco is trying to get out of town. He's such a talent... and he'd be way down on my list of Bengals most likely to next be arrested, which we all must admit is a good thing. I think that my hometown team is more likely to have playoff appearances and playoff wins with Chad than without him.

But my main problem with his attempt at getting out of Cincinnati is a matter of integrity, not a matter of football. Allow me to state my case...

In October 2003, ownership tore up what remained of his 4-year rookie contract after just 2 full seasons and signed him to a $25m deal. CJ played well, ownership rewarded him. Ownership was under no obligation to do so. They could have enjoyed production for the rest of 2003 and 2004 knowing that they owed him considerably less than market value. From a 2005 profootballtalk.com article:

Johnson, drafted 36th by the Bengals in 2001, was rewarded during his third season for ascending to Pro Bowl status. Johnson clearly had outplayed his rookie contract — a four-year, $3.09 million deal that included a $1.436 million signing bonus. He was scheduled to make $426,250 in base salary. Before a disagreement about Johnson’s worth became heated or public, the Bengals stepped up, assuring Johnson would feel, and be paid, like part of the nucleus.

After the 2005 season, with 4 seasons remaining on the aforementioned extension, ownership made CJ's bank account even bigger. From a 2006 espn.com article:

The new contract will pay Johnson $16 million between this season and 2007 and, assuming the Bengals exercise the option for 2011, a total of $35.5 million. That's a whopping $10.75 million in "new money" for the extension portion of the contract.

Within that same article, the media-whore agent Ocho shares with fellow media-whore WR Terrell Owens speaks highly of the organization:

"In terms of 'new money,' and just being unique from the standpoint of being able to do something for a player who still had four years left on his [existing] contract, it's really monumental," said agent Drew Rosenhaus, who was hired by Johnson a year ago to upgrade his contract "As long as I've been doing this, I've never been able to get an extension like this, basically because of the time remaining on the contract. It's historical. And it's a testament to Chad, and how well he's performed, and to Bengals management for the way they have handled this and the commitment they've made to him."

Apparently, the "historical" extension isn't good enough just 2 offseasons later.

I've long been in favor of letting Chad be Chad. I've wanted the coaching staff to let him do his ridiculous celebrations. Let him be a free spirit. Let him do his little dance and get the glory. Let him do whatever, just keep him happy, because when he's happy, he's scoring touchdowns, and touchdowns win games.

I've believed this after his apparent team-dividing "incident" at halftime of the playoff game. (Marvin and the organization have done an amazing job of publicly protecting CJ, don't you think?)

I believed this after the Mike & Mike interview earlier this month. I didn't think it was as bad as many made it out to be. I figured the flames would die down as the weeks went by.

But I've had enough, now. He's gone too far. I can give a lot of leeway to a charismatic personality, but I have a problem when player under contract with my team-of-interest is publicly telling another team's GM to call. To me, that's crosses the line.

(If he had apolgized for that today instead of throwing a can of gasoline on another national broadcast, maybe I'd feel differently.)