Free agents...

[Sea Ray]

It's stuff like this where you really have to wonder about the guy's IQ. Did he really think blowing off the terms of his probation would be tolerated? If you keep pushing 'em, sure they're going to put a warrant out for your arrest.

This lack of IQ is why he's not playing football right now. It's kind of amazing that he ever learned a Bengal playbook way back in the day

[HoosierCat]

It's stuff like this where you really have to wonder about the guy's IQ. Did he really think blowing off the terms of his probation would be tolerated? If you keep pushing 'em, sure they're going to put a warrant out for your arrest.

This lack of IQ is why he's not playing football right now. It's kind of amazing that he ever learned a Bengal playbook way back in the day

Maybe. I'm more inclined to chalk it up to a classic case of, you get the behavior you reinforce. For a long time -- most of the Nineties and more than half of the Aughts -- the Bengals organization had an extremely high tolerance for bad behavior. In fact it got to the point where the team was tarred, not wholly unfairly, as a bunch of thugs and criminals. That characterization has only begun to fade over the last year or two.

In Chad's case, the Bengals gave him multiple big-bucks extensions, and delivered no significant disciple or loss of playing time, despite his first acting like a clown and later acting like an a$$. If I'm working for a company and I come in late, don't do my job, badmouth management in the press etc., and they just keep giving me raises and promotions, what's my incentive to change?

So does it surprise me now that he didn't take probation seriously? Not at all. The Bengals tolerated him blowing off a whole season and paid him millions to do so. What consequences has he ever suffered that would make him think the cops in Florida would be any different?

[skyline]

It's stuff like this where you really have to wonder about the guy's IQ. Did he really think blowing off the terms of his probation would be tolerated? If you keep pushing 'em, sure they're going to put a warrant out for your arrest.

This lack of IQ is why he's not playing football right now. It's kind of amazing that he ever learned a Bengal playbook way back in the day

Maybe. I'm more inclined to chalk it up to a classic case of, you get the behavior you reinforce. For a long time -- most of the Nineties and more than half of the Aughts -- the Bengals organization had an extremely high tolerance for bad behavior. In fact it got to the point where the team was tarred, not wholly unfairly, as a bunch of thugs and criminals. That characterization has only begun to fade over the last year or two.

In Chad's case, the Bengals gave him multiple big-bucks extensions, and delivered no significant disciple or loss of playing time, despite his first acting like a clown and later acting like an a$. If I'm working for a company and I come in late, don't do my job, badmouth management in the press etc., and they just keep giving me raises and promotions, what's my incentive to change?

So does it surprise me now that he didn't take probation seriously? Not at all. The Bengals tolerated him blowing off a whole season and paid him millions to do so. What consequences has he ever suffered that would make him think the cops in Florida would be any different?

I think you're half-right, Hoosier.

But there's also no doubt that the guy is incredibly hard-headed. Remember the episode of Hard Knocks where Marvin was trying to explain basic finances to him? The guy was/is slow.

The difference is that, early in his career, he was making better decisions...showing up to the stadium early, working hard, etc. Eventually, though, he bought into his own fame and thought it was just a given. This is where, like you said, the lack of the teams willingness to excuse his behavior came into play.

[jjakq27]

Drew Rosenhaus

[kingwilly]

In Chad's case, the Bengals gave him multiple big-bucks extensions, and delivered no significant disciple or loss of playing time, despite his first acting like a clown and later acting like an a$$. If I'm working for a company and I come in late, don't do my job, badmouth management in the press etc., and they just keep giving me raises and promotions, what's my incentive to change?

So does it surprise me now that he didn't take probation seriously? Not at all. The Bengals tolerated him blowing off a whole season and paid him millions to do so. What consequences has he ever suffered that would make him think the cops in Florida would be any different?

I guess the Bengals Mgmt did further the bad behavior but let's not forget the results CJ delivered, in leading the AFC in receiving for some time. SO, he got his money base don results, not so much how well he knew the playbook or behaved. Absent the productive results, he's not getting the $. Nobody gets the big $ by being a good citizen and knowing the playbook....

Now, the guy went from a clown to a$$ and then further downhill.. and here he now sits, awaiting his bench warrant... total idiot. Just awaiting now to hear he's broke a la TO. With his 53 kids, can't be very long....

[HoosierCat]

I guess the Bengals Mgmt did further the bad behavior but let's not forget the results CJ delivered, in leading the AFC in receiving for some time. SO, he got his money base don results, not so much how well he knew the playbook or behaved.

I hear ya. I argued along similar lines for years that Chad was performing and his antics were small beer compared to some of the other past and present Bengals d-bags. But looking back I may have underestimated the long-term impact of "letting Chad be Chad." Maybe if someone had been firm with him about ending the clown act, the big meltdown around 2008 wouldn't have happened. Or maybe Chad just would have fallen off a performance cliff sooner, who knows.

Not that it probably would have mattered. In hindsight the whole team circa 2005-2006 was a slow-motion implosion that was already in progress even as they got to the playoffs for the first time in a million years. Chad was just the bright, sickly-sweet icing on the fail cake.