Chad Johnson

As reported on the official Bengals website, Chad Johnson seems slightly more accepting of his position in Cinci. This could be the end of what promised to be a long and tedious summer of Johnson's whingings vs Marvin Lweis's hardball stance.

Many people have speculated that Ocho Cinco's potential holdout was primarily motivated by money, but hold on a minute, there's a few facts that have been overlooked in that theory. The first, and simplest, is that Chad would have been better off money-wise, if he'd have continued with the eccentric genius act of seasons past. A Wide receiver who has 4-5 years left in the game (that's presuming he even wants to play that long) would be better served keeping the public, especially those in his 'home market' onside. The money he can make after football - not to mention his constant craving for attention - should both be factors in a decision to hold out at this stage of his career. His recent appearances on the NFL Network looked relatively strained, and even genial host Rich Eisen struggled to induce much more than a 'spoiled brat' attitude from Johnson.

So what is the most important thing to Chad? We'd argue that recognition is probably his overriding concern as he enters the autumn of his career. Remember this? The public reaction was more one of laughter, rather than acknowledging any sentiment behind the move. Couple this with Randy Moss shooting up the list of potentially Canton-bound players, and you have one slighlty miffed Bengal.

Johnson is 30. Moss is 31. It's not hard to see his thinking here. Remember that Moss could have sat in a mediocre side (Vikings anyone?) and racked up the big numbers (Cris Carter anyone?), but as we found out with Carter, that is definately no guarantee of Hall of Fame membership. With this in mind, Moss engineered a trade to the Raiders, but after just a year was already making noises about jumping ship. The undervalued contract he signed with the Pats reflected not his desire to make money, but his desire to play on a championship winning team.

So now Moss is a consensus Hall of Famer five years after he retires. Sure he doesn't have the ring, but he went 18 and 1 on one of the greatest teams to ever play, not to mention that the Pats have the potential to add another couple of championships before he retires. Johnson on the other hand, is painted as an outgoing, loveable character, with some brilliant statistics, but ultimately not one of the greats of his generation.

Without a ring, that '20??' prediction may need to be put on hold.