Chad will not be at team workouts

By Mark Curnutte
mcurnutte@enquirer.com

Chad Johnson’s offseason of discontent could be headed for its first showdown Monday with the Bengals.

And the Bengals wide receiver, in a series of Los Angeles-based television appearances today, said he would not participate in the team’s offseason strength and conditioning program beginning Monday.

"I will not be there," he said during a late afternoon stop at Current TV and Current.com. "There are a lot of issues that need to be dealt with. Nothing has changed."

The Bengals will begin their offseason strength and conditioning program at Paul Brown Stadium. It is not mandatory, though Johnson – who has been a regular attendee every year since drafted by the Bengals in 2001 – can earn a $250,000 workout bonus by participating.

"The sessions are voluntary," Bengals public relations director Jack Brennan said when reached for reaction to Johnson's comments.

"I don’t have any further comment at this time," Drew Rosenhaus, Johnson’s agent, said in text message today to The Enquirer when asked if Johnson would be at the stadium Monday.

Johnson might have dropped a hint about what he intends to do, when he said this morning in an interview on ESPN2, "You know, my offseason for football hasn't started yet. I haven’t started training yet. I am still somewhat enjoying the offseason. You know, I don’t start working out on my own until April."

Largely quiet since the week before the Super Bowl, Johnson appeared Tuesday on ESPN2's "First Take."

Johnson has not spoken to the Cincinnati-based media since October.

Asked several times by “First Take” host Jay Crawford on ESPN2 as to where he might be playing next season, Johnson said, "You know what? I want to continue my career wherever I have an opportunity at winning a playoff game and getting to a Super Bowl. That’s where I want to be."

Then asked if the Bengals were that team, Johnson said, "I’m not sure. I have no idea. … I haven’t made a decision on anything of that nature."

So no idea of where he would like to play in 2008?

"I don’t know," he said. "I am undecided."

Still, the venom of national broadcast and radio interviews in January and February was gone in Johnson's tone. He had said then that he wanted to play somewhere else and said he was unfairly targeted as the primary reason the team struggled to a 7-9 finish, its first sub-.500 season since 2002.

Johnson said he has not spoken to Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis or anyone else in the organization since the end of the season.

Earlier this month, former Bengals defensive lineman Shaun Smith -- during an appearance at a Cleveland Browns Backers meeting in Maryland -- said Johnson punched Lewis at halftime of the Bengals wildcard playoff loss in January 2006.

"It was an incident that did happen," Johnson said on ESPN2. "Of course there were no punches thrown or anything of that nature. I would have been released. I would have been cut, you know, right away.

"I was unhappy about the first half, the way we were playing. We were winning at the time, so I was out of place with my frustration, really, about not being able to held with what we were doing offensively. That was it. Coach Lewis … had to restrain me. (Former Bengals wide receivers coach) Hue Jackson had to restrain me. And that was as far as it went."

No punches?

"Man, please, be for real. No."

Johnson's appearance was designed to promote his role in an Internet drama called "The Rookie," in which he plays a character named Agent Ocho.

"I have always really wanted to act," he said. "It is something I really love besides football and soccer. I am really, really putting my energy into it, and I am starting in these short, short films. … I am a surveillance expert in this one. There are six webisodes, and I am in Webisodes 3 and 4. It is very funny seeing me out of football."

Web site: http://www.fox.com/24/degreerookie/index.htm