beat my compassion black and blue

Chad Johnson is running his mouth again, and continuing to poison his relationship with teammates and fans in Cincinnati. This time he lashed out against one of the only Bengals who he previously claimed still had his back--Carson Palmer. Johnson refuted Palmer's comments that Chad told him he would report to the Bengals' mandatory mini-camp, stating, "I wish (Palmer) would stay out of my business." Johnson reiterated that he had no plans to report to anything related to the Bengals and wanted to be traded as soon as possible. This is clearly an attempt by Johnson to burn one of his last remaining bridges with the team.

Although I would really like to see Chad shipped out of Cincinnati at this point, I think that Mike Brown and Marvin Lewis are making the right decision to hold firm and refuse to trade him. Trading Johnson would be an 8 million dollar salary-cap hit against the Bengals, which would really cripple them financially this season. This is a key factor that a lot of the "experts" seem to ignore when talking about the Chad situation. Since getting rid of Chad is out of the question, part of me hopes he will realize he won't be traded and decide to shut his mouth and play football. Given how emotional and stubborn the man is, I have a hard time believing that will happen.

Since he is doing everything possible to ruin his relationship with his teammates--most importantly Carson Palmer--I don't see how Chad could end up having a successful year for the Bengals. If he plays, I think he will end up being a distraction, dropping balls and moaning when he doesn't feel he's getting enough attention. Maybe this is me being vindictive, but I'd feel perfectly fine with Johnson being left to rot on the bench for the next three seasons. I think his absence will hurt the offense badly--especially after Chris Henry's departure--but unless he is willing to drop his selfish attitude, I don't see a good alternative.

Rob showed me a good article from Paul Daugherty on the Chad issue. Daugherty's take is that the Bengals should just cut their losses and trade Chad now. Yes, the $8 million cap hit will hurt, but since the chances of getting a productive season out of Chad are slim, we'll be losing that $8 million either way. At least by trading him the Bengals would get something in return and Johnson wouldn't be around to torpedo the season. It's a good point, but the vengeful side of me wants to see him wasting away on the bench. Although the idea of "punishing" him by trading him to a team like the Raiders or Dolphins that had no decent quarterbacks does sound intriguing. Either way, one thing is for certain: I need to get a new Bengals jersey.