Ocho Cinco in Chicago?

A few weeks ago there was a post I linked to in the High Five about the Bears trading Brian Urlacher to the Cincinnati Bengals for Chad Johnson. I made it pretty clear in the post that there was no way I'd like to see that trade go down.

What I didn't say was that there was no way I'd like to see the Bears trade for Chad Johnson.

Johnson has been asking for a trade for a while now, as he's not incredibly pleased with the way things are going in Cincinnati, and he'd like out of there as soon as possible. Then things got quiet for a while, but after Chad heard what his quarterback Carson Palmer said about the situation, he felt the need to reiterate his stance.

He still wants out.

What spurred Johnson's immediate reaction was a statement made by quarterback Carson Palmer that indicated Johnson had told Palmer he would be at the team's mandatory minicamp in mid-June. Johnson said that wasn't true.

"I want to make this very clear,'' Johnson said Wednesday. "I don't know where he got that. I made no assertion to Carson that I would do that. Nothing has changed from what I've been saying for three months that I don't want to play for the Bengals.''

Johnson made one of his strongest statements in saying he is not planning on reporting to any team functions because he wants to be traded.

"I want to be traded before the draft, and if that doesn't happen, I want to be traded as soon as possible,'' Johnson said. "I don't intend on reporting to anything.''

So I guess the question I'm trying to ask here is: Should the Bears trade for Chad Johnson?

I've been thinking about it ever since I first heard that Chad wanted out of Cincinnati, but I honestly can't come up with an answer. On the surface it's pretty simple.

The Bears need a wide receiver. Chad Johnson is a very good wide receiver. Over the last five seasons Chad has made 462 receptions for 6,870 yards and 43 touchdowns. I would try to compare that to a great Bears receiver of old, but there's never been one in the history of the franchise that's had that kind of 5-year span. Hell, there hasn't been a Chicago Bear to have one season like any of Chad's last five.

Still, you can't just look at the surface when it comes to Chad Johnson. You have to look beneath and see that he's the type of player that wants a lot of attention, and could become a very big locker room distraction. Is that the type of thing that the Bears are willing to deal with?

Not to mention that if Chad isn't happy in Cincinnati where he has Carson Palmer as his quarterback, how long before he revolted against Rex Grossman or Kyle Orton?

There's also the slight problem with the Bengals repeatedly saying they have absolutely no interest in trading him. This could just be nothing more than a negotiating ploy, but it could just as easily be the honest truth as well. Which means the Bears would have to pay a hefty price to get him away.

If this were a video game like Madden, there'd be absolutely no question what the Bears should do because you don't have to deal with all the off the field crap. Unfortunately we live in real life. I still don't know what to do.

What say you, Foul Balls reader?

Chris Henry Has Learned His Lesson

Since I just posted a video about Pacman Jones, it would only seem fair that this post be about his brother in suspension Chris Henry. (Whom judging by his mugshot, would probably fare well in Elephant Polo)

Henry, as you'll recall, is a Cincinnati Bengal. That means one of two things. He either loves to do homoerotic advertisements, or he's a menace to society. Well, Henry is the latter, and he's been suspended for the first eight games of the upcoming season because of it.

Looks like he might be missing even more time.

Bengals receiver Chris Henry could be going to jail after failing a court-ordered drug test last week.

Kenton County prosecutor Gary Edmondson told News 5 that Henry took the test as part of his probation agreement with Florida, where he was convicted on a weapons charge last fall.

Edmondson said the next move is up to Florida, where Henry was on probation for two years, served 100 hours of community service, attended a firearms safety class and forfeited the 9 mm gun he pulled during a skirmish in downtown Orlando.The drug test failure will likely be considered a violation of probation.

Henry has an 88-day suspended sentence in Kenton County and a 30-day suspended sentence in Clermont County, and the drug test failure could trigger these sentences as well.

So that means Chris could end up doing 111 days in jail, which would probably help him pass the time while he's suspended from the NFL. What this means as far as if his suspension will be extended, we don't know yet, but judging by Roger Goodell's track history so far on these matters, I wouldn't expect to see Henry in a Bengals uniform this season.