As the Bengals remain resolute in their refusal to trade receiver Chad Johnson, receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh is now getting in on the act, claiming that it would be better for the team to trade him.

“If he’s not traded it’s going to be a problem,” Houshmandzadeh told Bob Holtzman of ESPN.

Um, T.J.?  That’s not for you to decide.  And, actually, we’ve heard that Bengals players are unfazed by Chad’s ongoing attack of public verbal diarrhea because they have grown accustomed to his constant stream of private verbal diarrhea.

As one league source explained it to us today, the players realize that Johnson is an asshole, and that he’s going to run his mouth, and that when it’s time to play he’s going to play.

Even Houshmandzadeh realizes that Johnson is bluffing about his position that he won’t report for mandatory offseason workouts or training camp.

“I think eventually he’ll show up, but then you have to worry about how much of a distraction he’ll be,” Houshmandzadeh said, per ESPN.

Johnson is already a distraction.  He’s been a distraction since the day he entered the league.  And, this time around, if he’s a distraction he’ll be suspended four games without pay for conduct detrimental to the team, which would cost him about $700,000, and would also permit the Bengals to recover a big chunk of his bonus proration for the 2008 season. 

So it’s still unfolding just like we thought it would, and it’s fun to watch.