Bengals Appear to Win Stare Down with Ocho Cinco

Is Chad Johnson mellowing or is he just cheap?

The Bengals’ outspoken receiver, who had sworn he wouldn’t play for Cincinnati again, was on the field and participating for the first time this offseason with the club during Saturday’s final minicamp workout.

“He came out and worked … and I think it’s been good for him to get back into the flow of things,” Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said.

Other than wanting a reworked contract, Johnson also wasn’t expected to participate because he is dealing with an ankle injury. The Bengals want Johnson to undergo surgery to have bone spurs removed, but Johnson has chosen to let the ankle heal on its own.

“We still have to get some clarity on the ankle and being able to deal with that because it is something we dealt with a year ago,” Lewis said. “He always wants to play and do things, but we have to make sure. … He has some time in his career, so he needs to make sure that he makes a good decision that way.”

Johnson ran with the first-team offense Saturday and participated in each drill. If he had missed minicamp, which was mandatory, he would have been fined. So money clearly talks. He didn’t say much, other than to “vote for (Barack) Obama.”

It may have helped that the Bengals brought Charles Collins to camp under the NFL’s Minority Coaching Fellowship program. Collins is Johnson’s closest mentor dating back to their days together at Santa Monica Junior College.

“He was going to practice (Friday) afternoon, then got rained out,” offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski said. “He worked very hard. He’s rusty, rusty. I told him he looked rusty. Nobody likes to hear that.”

Agent Drew Rosenhaus, who represents Johnson, said late last week that Johnson would honor his contract and report to training camp, which was a complete 180 from what Johnson had been saying. The team has been steadfast in saying it wouldn’t trade him and that if he wanted to sit out, fine. Players report to training camp on July 27.

Rosenhaus and the Bengals got into a war of words Thursday concerning the ankle, how serious the injury is, how much he should practice, and the next step in the treatment.