The quick decision of the Dolphins to part ways with receiver Chad Johnson suggests that the team didn’t believe his version of the events that resulted in Johnson being arrested on Saturday night for head-butting his bride. Whether they believed him or not didn’t matter.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Johnson was on a one-strike arrangement with the team. Coach Joe Philbin, who has welcomed plenty of distractions in the seven months since he took the job, ultimately didn’t want the added distraction of the criminal prosecution of one of his higher-profile players.
That said, it surely didn’t help that Johnson told police that his wife actually applied the head butt to him. While it’s possible that he’s telling the truth and that his wife intentionally struck her head against his and claimed that he did it to her because she was mad about the condom receipt she found in the trunk of his car (and those are 42 words I never dreamed I’d type), Johnson should have at least gotten some inkling during their courtship that she was capable of such conduct.
So, either way, he didn’t sufficiently have his personal life in order to avoid creating for the Dolphins the kind of publicity the team currently doesn’t want.