Though Bengals receiver Chad Johnson didn’t come out and say that he wants out of Cincinnati during a Wednesday visit to ESPN’s NFL Live, he didn’t say that he wants to return — and he was given every opportunity to do so.

Instead, he said that he wants to play for a contender, and he pulled out the “next question” card when pressed on whether the Bengals fall into that category.

Johnson will try his damnedest not to come off as the bad guy in this.  In the end, however, he won’t pull it off.  If he wants out, he needs to be a man and say so.  Otherwise, he needs to say that he wants to stay, and he needs to shut up and get about the business of being a good teammate.