At one point during the NFL Network's 55 hours of Super Bowl week coverage, Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson made his way on set. The conversation, inevitably, focused on Mr. Ocho Cinco's ploy to change his name, as well as his sometimes rocky relationship with head coach Marvin Lewis. But Johnson was also asked about teammate T.J. Houshmandzadeh -- who is scheduled to be a free agent next month -- and whether his future is in Cincy. Chad adamantly assured co-host Deion Sanders that Housh would indeed be back because (and I'm paraphrasing here), "he loves playing for the Bengals and he loves playing with me."
Obviously, a big part of Johnson's public persona is showman, so he might've just been flapping his gums. And Houshmandzadeh's comments yesterday on a Philly radio station suggest as much.
"If the Eagles are interested in me, let's put it like this. If they'll be interested in me, I'll be interested in them," he said when asked if the Eagles would be his top choice. ...One option for the Bengals: franchise Houshmazilly. The problem -- at least according to NFL.com's Adam Schefter -- is that the team won't franchise a wideout. Which means that they'll either try to sign him to a long-term deal or let him walk.
"Did you watch the Eagles and the Bengals game during the season? I was just giving Andy Reid, I was giving him an interview in person," Houshmandzadeh said. "That's all I was doing. I was giving him a three-month interview ahead of time. That's all."
If it's the latter, the Eagles seem like a reasonable landing spot. Virtually every offseason, between the "Is this McNabb's final year in Philly?" questions, the discussion invariably turns how the team lacks a big-play wideout. Drafting DeSean Jackson last April mitigated some of that, but he's young; Houshmandzadeh's racked up more than 900 receiving yards in five straight seasons, and never caught fewer than 73 passes over that time.
And if Andy Reid needs one more reason: T.J.'s all about signing on the dotted line. No muss, no fuss. Or something. "If I get an offer from a team that I'm interested in, it's a done deal," said Houshmandzadeh. "You don't need to wine and dine me, so to speak. I'm not a woman. I don't need to be taken out and go out at ... no; I don't need none of that, man." Um, yeah.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-05-2009 @ 4:45PM
Redskins0492 said...
Bring him to chicago
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2-05-2009 @ 7:13PM
devandbenjamin said...
This just proves how stuck up Chad Johnson is. He's so full of him self he cant even realize that if T.J. left, it would be because of him.
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2-06-2009 @ 1:43AM
Porkchop said...
Were accept you TJ with open arms! In the process were cut those bums Reggie Brown and Greg Lewis and maybe let Baskett walk since he too busy with Kendra but hey who wouldnt be haha!
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2-06-2009 @ 5:20AM
titanic1159 said...
He would be a welcomed addition!
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2-06-2009 @ 8:21AM
berchfever2 said...
Bring him to Philly, we've been cravin for a big time wideout, bring him in and book us a trip to miami next year
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2-11-2009 @ 6:20PM
Franco said...
for the love of GOD please come to Philly. agree w/ porkchop too. cut brown, lewis, avant and baskett.
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2-11-2009 @ 8:09PM
robert said...
bring the guy in andy eagles despertaly need a big name receiver hes a great ball player and wants to be here dont make a mistake again like last season adding one in the draft shure hes a great ball player but he wasnt good enough for the place we want to be stick curtis in the slot to work the middle a big fast guy and put tj and deshawn on the edges this is one of our biggest needs and im shure a kind of move like this will bring us to where we want to be.And the most important thing this takes loads of pressure off donovan and brian.This will give us the dinamic offense needed.
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2-14-2009 @ 2:16AM
julio said...
We need to get a big time reciever right away like TJ and then seek a good rb in the draft so that we could have westbrook, buckhalter, and the new back.
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2-16-2009 @ 9:08PM
rumbillminze said...
BRING HIM TO PHILLY,HIM ON ONE SIDE ,JACKSON ON THE OTHER,THAT WOULD MAKE T.O EVEN JEALOUS.
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2-19-2009 @ 12:36PM
footballFANatic said...
I ALSO THINK T.J. WOULD BE A GREAT FIT.HE'S A GREAT PLAYER WITH LITTLE EGO.HE JUST COMES TO PLAY!!!!I WOULD CUT R. BROWN AND G. LEWIS.THEY HAVE ALWAYS BEEN BUMS.BUT KEEP BASKETT AND AVANT.THEY AT LEAST CATCH THE BALL AND MAKE PLAYS SOMETIMES.BESIDES WE NEED THEM FOR ANY FOUR OR FIVE WIDEOUT SETS!!
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2-24-2009 @ 6:46PM
PIMP said...
I agree with footbalfanatic, bringing him in would give us a way above average passing game without a 60/40. We would cut brown and lewis(bums). Put Curtis in the slot, with a balanced run game and our O would be almost unstoppable.
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3-07-2009 @ 12:58AM
colormecolorado said...
well, you didn't get him - move on! at least post #2 was right - Chad was wrong about him staying. whoops! I love Chad, but he kinda wigged out last year. Hopefully he is better this year. I like Philly too, but man, they need a reinvestment in personnel badly.
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