Chad Johnson

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For the political activist, attorney, and businessman, see Chad S. Johnson.

Chad Johnson
Date of birth	January 9, 1978
Place of birth	Miami, Florida
Position(s)	Wide receiver
College	Oregon State
NFL Draft	2001 / Round 2/ Pick 36
Pro Bowls	2004, 2005, 2006
Statistics	Pro Football Reference DatabaseFootball ESPN
Team(s)
2001 - Present	Cincinnati Bengals

Chad Johnson (born January 9, 1978 in Miami, Florida), is an American football wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League. The Bengals drafted Johnson from Oregon State University in the second round of the 2001 NFL Draft.

1 College career
2 Professional career
- 2.1 Chad's list
3 Trivia
4 See also
5 External links
6 References

[edit] College career

After graduating from Miami Beach Senior High School, Johnson attended Santa Monica Junior College, where he was a teammate of future Carolina Panthers star wide receiver Steve Smith. In 2000, Johnson transferred to Oregon State University after being aggressively recruited by coach Dennis Erickson. Alongside future Bengals teammate and fellow wideout T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Johnson led his team to an 11-1 season and a victory in the Fiesta Bowl that year. He also broke a school-book record for the longest touchdown reception by any player in their school's history with a 97 yard reception in a game against Stanford University.

[edit] Professional career

Johnson saw moderate playing time as a rookie, catching 28 passes for 329 yards and one touchdown. In 2003, Johnson set a Bengals franchise record by recording 1,355 receiving yards. He later surpassed the record in 2005, recording 1,432 yards. Johnson has led the AFC in receiving yards for three seasons. ^[1]

In addition to being one of the most productive receivers in the NFL, Johnson is also one of the most popular ones. In the fan voting for the 2006 Pro Bowl, Johnson finished first in votes for wide receivers, and fourth overall with 987,650 total votes.^[2] He has earned nationwide attention for his flamboyant attitude, which is often seen during his infamous end zone celebrations after catching touchdown passes. In a list released in August 2006 by Fox Sports listing the top 10 showboats in professional sports, Chad topped the list.^[3] Furthermore, Johnson has drawn even more attention to himself with his gilded grills, earrings, and as of 2006, his bleach blond mohawk, which he ditched after subsequent losses.

On April 20, 2006, Johnson signed a contract extension. The deal, which pays Johnson an additional $35.5 million, will last up to 2011.^[4]

During the first half of 2006 Cincinnati Bengals season, Johnson saw little activity. After being bogged down by an early injury, Johnson's productivity endured a sharp decline. During the first eight weeks of the 2006 season, Johnson only caught two touchdown passes, while only amassing 483 yards. However, after shaving his Mohawk and changing his mentality, Johnson had a breakout game in a losing effort against the San Diego Chargers. Johnson accumulated 260 receiving yards and scored two touchdowns, which broke the previous Bengals record for most receiving yards in a game. ^[5]. He went on to amass 190 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns in a 31-16 win over the New Orleans Saints in the following week. This gave him an NFL record 450 receiving yards in back-to-back games, breaking the previous record of 448 set by San Fransisco 49ers receiver John Taylor in 1989. In the following week, Chad gained 129 yards receiving breaking the three game receiving record since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970 and coming within 40 yards of the all-time record. As of December 1st, Chad leads the NFL in receiving yards and is tied for fourth in touchdown receptions with teammate T.J Houshmandzadeh.^[6]

[edit] Chad's list

During the 2005 NFL season, Johnson announced that he would keep a checklist which would evaluate the defensive backs that successfully managed to cover him (The list was titled Who Covered 85 in '05.) On November 2, 2005, Marvin Lewis, the Bengals head coach, replaced Johnson’s list with another one entitled, Did 85 do everything he could to lead his team to victory 11-6-05. The list, an obvious parody of the original, asked several questions regarding Johnson’s performance both on and off the field.^[7]

According to the Bengals' official website, the list was aimed to galvanize the Baltimore Ravens, whom the Bengals would play in four days. Johnson was not pleased with the new list, as he had developed a superstitious faith in the older list. Johnson had a stellar performance during the game, prompting the return of the original list.

[edit] Trivia

Johnson is the cousin of Baltimore Ravens cornerback Samari Rolle. He is related to Keyshawn Johnson through Rolle, who is Keyshawn's cousin.

Drew Rosenhaus is Johnson's NFL agent.

Chad Johnson appears on the cover of EA's NFL Street 3.^[8]

On October 25, 2006, in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Johnson announced he would prefer to be called, "Ocho-Cinco" ("8-5" in Spanish). During the October 29, 2006 game against the Atlanta Falcons, Johnson wore "Ocho Cinco" instead of "C. Johnson" on the back of his jersey during warm-ups. Quarterback Carson Palmer ripped the label off Johnson's jersey to reveal the usual "C. Johnson" .^[9] According to ESPN, he was fined $5,000 for the stunt (pending appeal) ^[10].