T.J. Houshmandzadeh may not have left the best impression in Seattle, but fans in Cincinnati have a much different opinion of the wide receiver Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com writes that Housh may be the most popular ex-Bengal ever to return to play in Paul Brown Stadium. (Boomer Esiason never did.)
Houshmandzadeh arrived in Cincinnati Saturday, and immediately headed over to Chad Ochocinco’s house to catch up. Housh has spent the week reminiscing about his time with the Bengals, giving Johnathan Joseph all sorts of love (he indicated Joseph was better than Leon Hall), and talking a little trash.
Houshmandzadeh also said a return to Cincinnati was never close.
“I read the Internet all the time. I read everything,” he said. “I read the good crap about me and the bad crap about me. It doesn’t matter. I don’t care. I read I wanted to come back Cincinnati. That’s a lie. I didn’t even talk to anybody. Marvin texted me, ‘Keep your head up. You’re going to be all right.’ That was it. All that ‘T.J. wanted to come back.’”
The most telling remarks all week were about his departure from Cincinnati. He advised future free agents to “stay where you are” if the money is close. (The Bengals made a similar late offer to keep Housh, but it was too late.)
Then again, the Bengals may have been better off offering T.J. more money than paying $19 million to Laveranues Coles and Antonio Bryant.
“I could have saved them a lot of money,” Houshmandazeh said. “I tell Carson [Palmer] that all the time.”