Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco has skipped most of the team’s organized team activities. Bengals coach Marvin Lewis says that’s just the way he likes it.
“Remember what we said when he went to Dancing With The Stars?” Lewis asked. “It was the best thing. Stay the hell away from me and give other guys reps and snaps and he wouldn’t be in my ear all the time saying, ‘Why am I here? I’m not getting any reps.’”
Of course, it would also be possible for Ochocinco to participate in offseason workouts and not be in Lewis’s ear all the time. But that’s just not in Ochocinco’s makeup, and there’s a part of Lewis that likes the fact that Ochocinco complains when he doesn’t get reps in practice.
“And it’s good for him because you can’t wear him out when he’s here because he wants to take every snap,” Lewis said. “He’s had four good practices. We’ve had guys out here that haven’t been practicing and they look behind. He doesn’t look behind. He’s way different than he was in ’08. He’ll be fine.”
As we noted in today’s one-liners, Ochocinco has been participating in this week’s minicamp, and he caught a touchdown pass at Wednesday’s practice. Lewis called that catch “a hell of a play.”