According to James Walker of ESPN.com, Chad Johnson will report to the Bengals’ mandatory minicamp, which starts June 12.
Our colleagues at ESPN The Magazine recently caught up with the embattled receiver at his home in Davie, Fla. Among other things, Johnson said that he plans to report to Cincinnati’s mandatory minicamp on June 12 and that everyone will see “the reinvention of Ocho Cinco.”
This declaration comes just six weeks after Johnson boldly told ESPN.com: “I don’t intend on reporting to anything.” Lewis quickly shot back during a news conference with Cincinnati media saying, “I think he’s a man of his word and says he’s not going to play, so don’t play.”
The major-league staredown between Cincinnati’s star player and coach resulted in Johnson blinking first.
Make no mistake, the fines of $8,000 per day for skipping minicamp and $14,000 per day for missing training camp were ringing in Johnson’s head.
Checkmate Bengals. The team did a nice job standing their ground and not trading CJ during the offseason. Now they need to get him to buy into the team philosophy and get back to work. Thanks to a high-powered offense, the Bengals are already a playoff caliber team. Nobody questions his desire to win, but after all of this nonsense this offseason, it’s clear he needs to get out of his own head and just do his job.
