Niners: Houshmandzadeh Trade Rumor Shot Down; Williams Too

San Francisco, CA: It didn't take long for the Bengals organization to deny the reports of a possible trade with the Niners. Head Coach Marvin Lewis even went as far as to bash the 49er organization while denying the rumor.

"Boy, that's a bad rumor, huh?" Lewis said. "Number 1, you're going to get a club in trouble for tampering. That club has already been penalized once this year, very harshly." "Number 2, what club in its right mind would trade for a player that's going to be an unrestricted free agent?"

Lewis continued. "Again, if you're going to start a rumor, make it a good one, OK? Make it something that makes some sense to people inside the NFL. It's unfortunate."

This rumor came to life when the Dayton Daily News issued an article saying that T.J.'s name has come up a lot in recent weeks around the 49ers organization and also stated Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz had some inside information. The Dayton Daily News had this to say:

According to a source, Houshmandzadeh's name has come up quite frequently during conversation at Niners headquarters in recent weeks. Apparently, 49ers offensive coordinator Mike Martz is enamored with Houshmandzadeh and may have learned some positive things about the receiver from a member of the Zampese family who Martz remains close to."

T.J. Houshmandzadeh had this to say about the possibility of going to San Francisco:

"If I'm here, I'm here. I would think I would be. And if I'm not, can't really do much about it, so, just play, you know?" Houshmandzadeh said.

It appears now that the 49ers organization getting a hold of Houshmandzadeh this season is a long shot. One reason which Bengals coach Lewis put so bluntly is T.J. becomes an unrestricted free agent after this year, and if the 49ers were interested; would be in a better position to acquire the WR this off season.

As for the additional rumors about the Niners looking to add Roy Williams to the roster, the 49ers organization denied the rumors about trading for Williams as well as Houshmandzadeh.

According to Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com the rumors are not true.

Contrary to a report from the Dayton Daily News indicating that the 49ers are interested in trading for receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh or receiver Roy Williams, a league source tells us that the Niners are interested in neither player.

Florio goes on to say this might be an attempt by the Bengals to get the most out of T.J. Houshmandzadeh without seeming desperate to trade him.

It could be that the Bengals would like to conjure a trade market for Houshmandzadeh, and that the Bengals are leaking rumors of the supposed deliberations of other teams in order to get someone to call about Houshmandzadeh's availability. If the Bengals were to initiate trade discussions, they might be regarded as anxious to trade him, which would then drive down the price tag.

So for now Niner fans, it looks like the team will have to make due with veteran receivers Isaac Bruce, Bryant Johnson, and Arnaz Battle as well as the young receivers in Jason Hill and Josh Morgan. If the Niners are looking to add another WR to the roster, they could look into Terry Glenn or another wide out that isn't currently signed with another team.

Tyler Olsen
The Bleacher Report
Salt Lake City, UT