Chad Johnson Will Get a New Deal if He Behaves

Following up on a note in the previous entry, NFL.com’s Adam Schefter confirms that Chad Johnson will likely get a new deal in 2009 — if he cuts out the Ocho Bozo act.

Some kind of promise, whether to revisit his contract or allow him to seek a trade, was probably inevitable. Re-upping Chad next season would be a questionable move. His antics aside, the Bengals already have one upcoming free agent WR in T.J. Houshmandzadeh who will require a sizeable sum to re-sign. And Chad, like T.J., is past the magic age number — 30 — and handing big bucks to aging players can come back to haunt a team, as the Bengals have found with RT Willie Anderson.

Still, the bottom line is that this “gentleman’s agreement” almost certainly means Bengals fans can quit worrying about Chad tanking it this year, which can only be a good thing. As for next year, well, like my mom always said, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

But anyhow, so much for that props-to-Mike Brown-and-Marvin Lewis-for hanging-tough-and-showing-Chad-who’s-boss meme. Bribery, pure and simple. But hey, whatever works, right?