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Chad is Chad. You either loved him during his time in Cincinnati or you despise him as everything unholy on this Earth. There's no middle ground, sort of like today's political "discussions". Whereas many will point out that Chad provided Cincinnati with more than your daily Bungals joke, parallel with the ambitious overhaul that rookie head coach Marvin Lewis brought at the time, others will gladly point out many of Chad's selfish moments from personal penalties after touchdowns, threatening to sit out if not traded and his rants to Carson Palmer that's caught on national television -- and the reported Royal Rumble with Hue Jackson that never took place.
Yet during his ten-year career with the Bengals, the artist formerly known as Chad Johnson, practically rewrote most of the franchise's receiving records. Such as:
| Category | Number | Franchise Rank |
| Total Receptions (Career) | 751 | 1st |
| Total Receptions (Season) | 97 | 4th |
| Total Receptions (Game) | 12 (twice) | t-2nd |
| Yards Receiving (Career) | 10,783 | 1st |
| Yards Receiving (Season)* | 1,440 | 1st |
| Yards Receiving (Game) | 260 | 1st |
| Total Touchdowns (Career) | 66 | 2nd |
| Total Touchdowns (Game) | 3 | t-3rd |
| Receiving Touchdowns (Career) | 66 | 1st |
| Receiving Touchdowns (Season) | 10 | t-5th |
| Receiving Touchdowns (Game) | 3 | t-1st |
| Most 100-Yard Receiving Games (Career) | 31 | 1st |
| Most 100-Yard Receiving Games (Season) | 5 (three times) | t-1st |
| Most Consecutive 100-Yard Receiving Games | 3 (twice) | t-2nd |
| * Chad owns the top five spots in most yards receiving in a single-season. | ||
Cincinnati traded Chad Ochocinco to the New England Patriots last year in exchange for a fifth-round selection in 2012 and a sixth-round selection in 2013. Unfortunately Chad's season wasn't the dream season he had hoped it would be. Though he played in the Super Bowl and caught a pass, the Patriots lost; to be fair, that's in no way directly related to him. However Chad only caught 16 passes in 17 games played. Peter King of Sports Illustrated briefs:
Chad Ochocinco's first season in New England is over. He played in 17 games, including the playoffs, and caught 16 passes. And those who waved goodbye to him in Cincinnati and said he would be a poor route-runner and wouldn't fit in with Tom Brady are now saying, "Told you so.''
Even though the Bengals received two mid-to-late round draft selections, one has to believe that Cincinnati's decision to trade Chad wasn't just a good idea, it brought in two more draft selections that could be used to accelerate the team's overall philosophy to build through the draft.
Now we won't argue that the Bengals won this trade like they did over Jacksonville in 2010 that brought Reggie Nelson to town, only because those selections need to be made and those players need to produce first. But at the end of the day the trade was a good one for the Bengals, even if they were for mid-to-late round selections.