On Tuesday morning, Chris Mortensen of ESPN reported that the Washington Redskins have offered the Cincinnati Bengals a first-round pick in 2008 and a conditional pick in 2009 that could escalate to a first-rounder for receiver Chad Johnson.

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis says that it never happened.

“Mike Brown has not received a phone call,” Lewis said at a Tuesday press conference.

Lewis also continues to call Johnson’s bluff regarding his intention to retire if not traded.  “He’s a man of his word,” Lewis said.  “He says he’s not going to play, so don’t play.  It’s time to do what you’re going to say you do and we’ll just move forward.”

So what’s going on here?  It’s possible that the offer was made, and that the Bengals have opted to deny it in order to avoid the intense pressure that eventually will come from the fan base to spare them the antics of Ocho Psycho by getting real value for him right now and moving on. 

Really, what can the Redskins do if the Bengals are lying?  Call a press conference to say that an offer has been made?  (That would be tampering on its face.)

And we continue to be (more) concerned that tampering might be occurring with Johnson.  Even if the ‘Skins aren’t directly talking to agent Drew Rosenhaus, the fact that the Washington Post knows that the team is ready to pay Johnson $21 million in guaranteed money strongly suggests that the team is putting this information out there in the hopes of continuing to stoke the “I want out” fire that has escalated into an inferno.

In our opinion, what the Redskins apparently are doing is 1000 times worse than the conduct that formed the basis for the Bears tampering allegations against the 49ers.  In our opinion, the Bengals should file tampering charges against the Redskins today, if for no reason other than to get the Redskins to back off.