1/31/2008 3:03:15 AM

I have to agree. Scapegoating Chad is the easy way out and as a superstar it is sad that all the talk is being taken to heart. But, as a human... how could it not be? I agree 100% that both sides are to blame. Yet, there is more wrong on the Bengals side than personally on Chad's.

Nick Wessendarp

1/31/2008 9:49:53 AM

I can't talk about Chad anymore. He wants out of here because he's no longer "the man". The team isn't, and won't be built around 85. It's built around 9.

That's as it should be. A quality QB in the NFL is everything, if you want to have a chance to be competitive.

And this season it was clear that T.J. is the go-to guy when the Bengals needed a key third down or big play to keep a drive alive, not Chad.

He wants to be somewhere where he is "The Man". Just like the other prima donna WR that Chad's agent, Rosenhaus, has, T.O.

And now they are taking the same page out of the playbook of T.O.'s situation in Philly, only without the QB bashing.

Period. End of story.

And if Marvin and the organization continue to be serious in their public stance that they will not trade Chad, then they are bigger fools than 85. To openly bring that kind of bad karma and chemistry into the locker room next season and think that Chad will shape up, or that he's just being silly with his comments and doesn't really mean what he says, is beyond stupid.

It's reckless.

Then again, when has Mike Brown ever cared about what's best for the team?

Jeremy Fischer

1/31/2008 11:16:40 AM

I think I feel some of the same things that all of the commenters are saying, but I find it hard to fault anyone but Chad in this situation. Someone needs to explain to me what exactly he didn’t get from Marvin that he wanted. I don’t remember Marvin calling him out for his outlandish behavior this season at all. He let “Chad be Chad”, even laughed and joked with him as he got a 15 yard penalty for excessive celebration. He’s come out twice and said he wants Chad back in 2008.

Why is this Mike Brown’s fault? Lord knows he’s a miserable owner and a cheapskate of epic proportions, but he tore up Chad’s rookie contract when he didn’t have to and made him the highest paid receiver in the league at the time. Chad’s upset now that his yearly salary doesn’t measure up to some of the other top receivers in the league. Well he had no problem signing that contract at the time – perhaps he should have signed a shorter termed contract so he could test his market value quicker. Oh, but wait, then he wouldn’t have gotten his eight figure signing bonus, since the club would have had to spread the bonus over a shorter period of time for the cap, and it probably would have been cut in half or more.

Is Chad frustrated about not playing for a winning football team? Please. The fact that he want Bill Parcells, the president of a 1-15 team that has nothing resembling an NFL quarterback, to call him speaks volumes about what he wants, and that is to get paid.

Make no mistake, the decision to hire Drew Rosenhaus as his agent was a calculated one. Rosenhaus is a sleazy guy, and he’s a shark, and everything nasty that people say about him is likely true, and that doesn’t change the fact that Chad brought him into his fold with a purpose. When he says that he doesn’t worry about where he’s playing next year, that he’s “leaving that to the shark”, he’s just passing off responsibility for his own desires. Rosenhaus would dance Swan Lake on a surfboard in a grass skirt if Chad told him to. But Chad wants to get paid, and he knows that Rosenhaus will get him that by any means necessary, up to and including burning his bridges with his current club. If Chad really wanted to stay here, he’d tell Rosenhaus so – hell, he’d tell someone he wants to. He hasn’t.

Bottom line, unless this team makes some major upgrades (and we can all agree that Britney Spears stands a better chance of winning a Nobel Prize than that happening), this team is no better than a 9-7 with Chad even under the most optimistic of scenarios – and if you think they’re going to be better than that I urge you to look at their opponents for 2008 and figure out who they’re going to beat. So the Bengals can probably be a non-winning team with Chad or without him. Is it worth it for the team to keep a 30 year old malcontent receiver around just to maybe get to nine wins?

Adam Bartel

1/31/2008 3:42:41 PM

I'm with you, I'm not even much of a Bengals fan but it sure sucks knowing they've got to dump yet another talented player because his head just got too big. And I agree, Marvin let him get way too out of control and didn't know what to do with the monster he created when it got as big as it did. Sighh, back to the good old days I guess.

Adam Bartel