Johnson Mending Fences, Returns to Practice

The minicamp chapter of Chad Johnson's saga with the Bengals is complete, and it comes with a plot twist. Johnson is back to practicing and doing the right things. Up next: Training camp

Maybe Chad Johnson is bucking for a spot on the Democratic presidential ticket alongside nominee Barack Obama.

Johnson refrained from talking to reporters during the Bengals three-day minicamp, except for some friendly barbs and hellos and his personal endorsement of Obama as he left the practice field late Saturday morning.

“Vote for Obama,” Johnson said into the camera of local Fox affiliate, WXIX-TV. More important than his political views, however, was the fact that Johnson fully participated in Saturday’s final practice as cold feelings that have existed between the franchise and its all-time leading wide receiver continued to thaw. The relationship between Johnson and the Bengals is far from completely healed but as the five-time Pro Bowler ran routes and caught passes from quarterback Carson Palmer he was also more engaged with teammates and coaches, as he was with offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski at the end of practice.

“He's rusty,” said Bratkowski. “I told him he looked rusty. Nobody likes to hear that.

“He's going against guys who have been out here for 14, 16 practices, you know. You're going to look that way. T.J. (Houshmandzadeh) looked that way first day.”

Johnson’s full participation Saturday was the first time this offseason he has been in that capacity with his teammates. He was set to do so in the second of two practices Friday but thunderstorms wiped out the planned session. He did little in two practices Thursday and during a morning session on Friday, opting out of the workouts due to an ankle injury that has lingered from last season. Drew Rosenhaus, Johnson’s agent, and the Bengals got into war of words Thursday concerning the ankle, how serious is the injury, how much he should practice and the next step in the treatment process.

The injury did not keep Johnson out of any drills on Saturday. Rosenhaus, speaking on ESPN’s NFL Live show Friday, said that Johnson is planning on reporting to training camp on time. The Bengals report to Georgetown College for camp on July 27.

“He came out and worked the last two days and I think it’s been good for him to get back into the flow of things,” said head coach Marvin Lewis. “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… He has some time in his career so he needs to make sure that he makes good decision that way.”

The spectacle of Johnson, who spent much of the offseason requesting to be traded and having that request denied, did not turn into any sort of distraction for his teammates.

“You know what? I'm going to pass on talking about Chad today,” said Palmer on Thursday. “I think everybody in here is probably sick of hearing about him and everybody out there is sick of hearing about him. So I'm not going to talk about him. I'll talk about other guys.”

Palmer and Johnson could be seen talking frequently on Saturday. Lewis said the players approach to Johnson was a combination of the head coach’s message to them and their own maturity and understanding of the situation.

“They really don’t need to talk any more about it or listen or answer questions or anything that way,” said Lewis. “It’s not like a little girls club where everybody cares who got the most marshmallows. It’s time to move on and don’t worry about that.”

Starting cornerbacks Leon Hall and Johnathan Joseph took turns playing tight coverage against both Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh with a disruptive style new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer has been implementing during his five months with the team.

“They're playing a very physical and hands-on style of defense, which, if you haven't been working and preparing against that, it takes you a while to get back used to it. It's a very good style of defense. It's one of the most disruptive things in the pass game when they can get their hands on people and slow down the process of when the guys to where he's supposed to be. It throws things out of rhythm. They did a good job of that.”