Chad Ochocinco

Chad Javon Ochocinco, born Chad Javon Johnson, January 9, 1978 is an American football wide receiver for the New England Patriots of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the second round of the 2001 NFL Draft.

He played college football at both Oregon State and Santa Monica City College.

In April 2011, CNBC listed Ochocinco as #1 for "Most Influential Athletes In Social Media List

Ochocinco has been selected to the Pro Bowl six times and named an All-Pro three times.

Early life and college career

Johnson was born in Miami After graduating from Miami Beach Senior High in 1997, Johnson attended Langston University, a university in Langston, Oklahoma, but did not play football. In 1997 he transferred to Santa Monica College, a community college in Santa Monica, California, where he was a teammate of future Carolina Panthers star wide receiver Steve Smith. In 2000, he transferred to Oregon State University after being aggressively recruited by coach Dennis Erickson. Alongside future Bengals teammate T. J. Houshmandzadeh, he led his team to an 11-1 season and a victory over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl that year. He also broke a school record for the longest touchdown reception with a 97-yard reception in a game against Stanford University.

Professional career

The Cincinnati Bengals chose Johnson in the second round of the 2001 NFL Draft.

In Johnson's rookie year, he saw moderate playing time, catching 28 passes for 329 yards and one touchdown. In 2003, he set a Bengals franchise record by recording 1,355 receiving yards. In 2004, he caught 95 receptions for 9 touchdowns and 1,274 yards, including 117 receiving yards in a 58-48 win against the Cleveland Browns. He later surpassed the record in 2005, recording 1,432 yards. He led the AFC in receiving yards for four consecutive seasons, and he made the Pro Bowl five straight times from 2003 to 2007.

During the 2005 NFL season, Johnson announced that he would keep a checklist, titled who Covered 85 in '05, that would evaluate the defensive backs that successfully managed to cover him. On November 2, 2005, Marvin Lewis, the Bengals head coach, replaced Johnson's list with another one titled, 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.According to the Bengals' official website, the list was aimed to galvanize the Baltimore Ravens, whom the Bengals would play in four days.

2006-2007

During the first half of 2006 season, Johnson saw little activity. After being bogged down by an early injury, his productivity endured a sharp decline. During the first eight weeks of the 2006 season, he only caught two touchdown passes, while only amassing 483 yards. However, after shaving his Mohawk and changing his mentality, he 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. 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 Francisco 49ers receiver John Taylor in 1989. In the following week, he gained 123 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.

Johnson finished the 2006 season with 87 receptions for a league leading 1,369 yards and 7 touchdowns. He was the first Bengal ever to lead the NFL in receiving yards. 

2007-2008

In the first game of the season, on Monday Night Football against the Baltimore Ravens, Johnson scored the game's first touchdown on a 39-yard pass from Carson Palmer. Following the touchdown, he grabbed a jacket that resembles the Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees' jacket that said, "Future H.o.F 20??". Johnson finished the game with 5 receptions for 95 yards and a touchdown. In the next game against the Cleveland Browns, he racked up 209 yards on 11 catches for two touchdowns in the 51-45 loss. This gave him a career total of 7,229 receiving yards, breaking the Bengals franchise record previously held by Isaac Curtis. The very next game against the Seattle Seahawks, he totaled nine receptions for 138 yards as the Bengals lost again. Against the New York Jets, in which the Bengals won 38-31, he had 3 receptions for 102 yards and a rush for 15 yards.

By week 15, Johnson and Houshmandzadeh both gained over 1,000 receiving yards for the second year in a row. However, a loss to the San Francisco 49ers that week ensured the team would finish the year with their first losing season since 2002. Johnson finished the season with 4 catches for 131 yards and 2 touchdowns in a win over the Miami Dolphins, giving him 93 receptions for 1,440 yards and 8 touchdowns on the season.

His 1,440 yards set a new Bengals franchise record, breaking his own record of 1,432 in 2005. It was the third time that he had finished a season with a new Bengals record for receiving yards. His yardage was third most in the NFL, his receptions were 12th most, and his touchdowns were tied for 15th most in the league.

2008-2009,Preseason

On January 13, 2008, Johnson was a guest on ESPN's Mike & Mike radio show. During the interview, he addressed how the media and team treated him during the 2007 season, saying, "I was labeled selfish and a cancer, and it hurt...Fingers were pointed at me this year. If the team and the organization wants to further itself (make the playoffs), I think you need to get rid of the problem...It hurt me. To do me that way and not to have my back. Things were said, and nobody came to my defense." However, head coach Marvin Lewis commented on the issue by saying that the Bengals will not be trading Johnson. "He is a Cincinnati Bengal for quite a while," Lewis said.

On February 4, Johnson's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, stated that Johnson would not sit out the 2008 season and would play, but would not say whether it would still be with Cincinnati or not. ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported that Johnson felt betrayed by Marvin Lewis and was privately threatening to sit out the 2008 season.

On February 14, 2008, Marvin Lewis announced that the Bengals never discussed trading Johnson and would not unless the right deal was there. Reports at the time stated that Johnson had been looking for a deal with the Washington Redskins. Lewis also stated that he had not spoken to Johnson since the last regular season game; yet when asked about the trade rumors, Chad said "Call me, Dan," referring to Redskins' owner Daniel Snyder. On April 22, the Cincinnati Bengals' declined a Washington Redskins' trade for Johnson involving a first round 2008 NFL Draft selection and a 2009 NFL Draft selection.

On NFL Network's NFL Total Access, Johnson said he did not want a pay raise from the Bengals, but rather a "change of scenery". Johnson then refused to speak to reporters and missed the offseason workout programs and practices. On April 16, Johnson announced he wanted to be traded before the 2008 NFL Draft or as soon as possible afterwards. Johnson also said he would not attend any Bengals' functions, mandatory or voluntary, despite what quarterback Carson Palmer said about Johnson reporting to the team's mini-camp. The next day, April 17, teammate T.J. Houshmandzadeh told ESPN that it would be best for the Bengals to trade Johnson. "I think eventually he'll show up, but then you have to worry about how much of a distraction he'll be," Houshmandzadeh told ESPN.

On June 3, nine days before the opening of the Bengals' mandatory minicamp on June 12, Johnson told

Regular season

Johnson legally changed his surname to "Ochocinco" on August 29, 2008. Ochocinco and the Bengals began the season 0-8, with Carson Palmer being out for the season with an injury early in the campaign and Ochocinco experiencing his worst statistical season in his career. Ochocinco totaled 11 receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown in the first four games of the season, unable to gain more than 37 yards receiving in any of the contests. Following a 3 reception for 43 yard performance against the Dallas Cowboys in a loss, Ochocinco had consecutive games with 50-yard receiving totals (57 against the New York Giants & 52 against the Pittsburgh Steelers). Ochocinco then had 44 yards off of 5 receptions in a loss to the Houston Texans.

However, the Bengals won their first game of the season against the Jacksonville Jaguars in week 9 by a score of 21-19. In that game, Ochocinco had 5 receptions for 37 yards and two touchdowns. The two scores marked the first multi-touchdown game of the season for Ochocinco.

Ochocinco finished the season with 53 catches for 540 yards and 4 touchdowns - his worst statistical season since his rookie campaign.

2009-2010

Before the start of the 2009 season, the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Giants expressed interest in Ochocinco if he were to be placed on the market after he missed voluntary team offseason workouts.In July 2009, Ochocinco said that he will use Twitter during games, but the NFL banned it. In the August 20 preseason game vs the New England Patriots, Ochocinco took over placekicking duties for the injured Shayne Graham. He kicked off and made an extra point in the game, which ended up clinching the Bengals' 7-6 win.

During the season, Ochocinco expressed remorse for the developments in the 2008 season and attempted to make it up to the fans in Cincinnati through numerous actions. Many of those involved public appearances (usually involving the publication of his autobiography) and also by inviting Bengals fans to dinner and movie showings through his Twitter account, gatherings which he picked up the tab for. Many of the events were featured on the Bengals' official website.

2010-2011

Ochocinco opened up the season with 12 receptions for 159 yards and a touchdown in the Bengals opening day loss to the New England Patriots. In doing so, he tied the franchise record for touchdown catches (which he later surpassed) and became the 6th player in NFL history to amass 10,000 receiving yards with one team. The following week he became the 30th player in NFL history to surpass 700 career receptions, catching four passes for 44 yards in a 15-10 win.

New England Patriots

On July 28, 2011, the New England Patriots acquired Ochocinco in a trade with Cincinnati after he restructured a three-year contract. The Patriots traded two draft picks, a 5th round pick in 2012 and a 6th round pick in 2013.