Even after he was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals with the 36th overall pick in the 2001 NFL Draft, Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson managed to live a frugal lifestyle. The former wide receiver has often stated that he was once so cheap that he was willing to only eat McDonald’s and even lived at the team’s facility for multiple years.
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“You gotta remember, I stayed at the stadium the first two years because I didn’t want to spend no money,” Johnson said, according to CNN’s Ben Church. “What’s the point? Why are you telling me to go rent a house, go buy a house, or go rent a condo when everything I need is right here in the facility? Showers, cafeteria, TV, couch, gaming system. What’s the point? I was so locked in. It wasn’t about having my own space.”
Although Ocho’s propensity for pinching pennies has become somewhat legendary, the former pass rusher for the then San Diego Chargers, Marcellus Wiley, is calling “cap.” After Ocho once again stated that “It made no sense” for him to spend his money as a rookie, the retired defensive end took to his ‘Dat Dude TV‘ YouTube series to break down his claims.
“He’s that much smarter than all of us who have played before? Thousands and thousands of NFL players, he’s that smart? Is he that smart? Because nobody ever thought about doing that… I do now we have pieced it together, but nobody had put it all together.”
Initially, Wiley suggested that he was buying the narrative, however, a few key details gave it away in his opinion. In the end, while it does make for a good story, Wiley just wasn’t having it.
According to the former second-round draft pick, that story would have come out much sooner if it were true.
“You’re talking about over 100 guys… Nobody told? None of this got out? That’s part one. Part two is, Chad he’s got family, kids, all that stuff. He had a real life. Everything can’t be handled in there, but maybe he was like, ‘Look I’ll handle stuff at the hotel’ and then he just went to sleep there.”
In the end, Wiley couldn’t help but admit that he’s torn over the legitimacy of Ocho’s story. Ultimately, his verdict proved to be that “I believe him, but I just can’t believe it.“
At the end of the day, unless the Bengals’ former coach, Marvin Lewis, is willing to step in front of a camera and add some legitimacy to the claim that Johnson housed himself at the team’s facility for nearly three calendar years, the legend is likely to remain just that, a legend.
Considering that Johnson is one of the most celebrated wide receivers in the history of the franchise, perhaps it’s for the better that Bengals fans are able to pass around such fun yet ridiculous stories when reminiscing about the past. Much like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, some lies are just worth spreading.
