No Sign Of Ochocinco In Cincinnati

BasX · Mar 30, 2009

Though he’s not (yet) clamoring publicly for a trade, Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco has taken a page from last year’s offseason playbook, boycotting the start of the team’s offseason training program.

According to our friends at 1530 Homer, Ochocinco isn’t present.

Quarterback Carson Palmer spoke as if he doesn’t expect Ochocinco to arrive.

“I’m not worried about him, I’m worried about the guys we have here,” Palmer said. “The guys that want to be here and want to work hard are the guys that are here now and here this [offseason] and I don’t worry about anyone else.”

The situation is a bit confusing, since Ochocinco said during Super Bowl week that he’d take part in all offseason activities.

To make matters worse, Ochocinco has been incommunicado, at least with respect to Palmer.

It was widely believed that Ochocinco tried to get out last year because he wanted a new contract. He opted not to boycott mandatory activities or training camp, presumably because he didn’t want to risk owing a refund of previously-paid signing bonus money, along with the five-figure daily fines.

And we’d heard that the Bengals ultimately told Ochocinco that, if he behaved in 2008, they’d talk to him about a new contract. Since he has yet to get that new contract, his only leverage is precisely what it was a year ago — withholding his services from any non-mandatory activities.

Johnson Ochocinco is due to earn a base salary of $4.5 million in 2009. Though it had been our previous understanding that he is signed only through 2010, NFLPA records show that he is under contract through 2011.

There’s a possibility that he has a voidable year in his contract, which would make the final season evaporate.
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http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/03/30/no-sign-of-ochocinco-in-cincinnati/

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No Sign Of Ochocinco In Cincinnati

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