Bengals Owner Mike Brown Rips into Chad Ochocinco

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco has one more year left on his contract worth $6 million. It's unclear, though, whether or not the Bengals are willing to pay him the $6 million to play in 2011 or let him walk out the door for about half that money. We've written extensively about the subject and there is evidence that he will be a Bengal in 2011 and that he won't.

Until now, Marvin Lewis has been the only team official to talk about Chad's offseason extracurricular activities. However, Bengals.com writer Geoff Hobson had a chance to hear Brown's thoughts about the wide receiver on Tuesday.

"Next maybe he'll be snake wrangler and we can all watch to see if he gets bit or something," Brown said. "I don't know. He's always up to some stunt. They amuse me in a way and yet they concern me because, let's face it, as we look at it we want a football player. We aren't looking for a bull rider or a dancer, or a soccer player. We want a football player. It's simple. That's where we want the focus. Not on other things."

While that sounds like an insult, Brown also mentioned that Ochocinco possesses a genius-like ability to keep people talking about him even when he's not on the football field and during the lockout.

"He has a genius for bringing notice to himself and I don't say that in a disparaging way," Brown said. "It's unique. I've never known any football player that can bring the spotlight on to himself seemingly all year round. Now is that a good thing or a bad thing? And that gets to be a debate."

Brown was much more open about Ochocinco than he usually is about his other players. However, he didn't mention, as expected, whether or not Ochocinco would be on the Bengals roster in 2011. We won't find that out until the lockout is finally lifted and the Bengals take the field for the first time in 2011.

That doesn't mean that Brown doesn't think Ochocinco is capable of playing in 2011, because he does.

"If he chose to be, there's no question. The issue is does he at this stage of his life have that focus."

UPDATE:

Chad Ochocinco fires back at Mike Brown via, you guess it, Twitter.

Thus begins the Chad Ochocinco/Mike Brown war.