Free Agent wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh appeared on ESPN 1000’s Waddle and Silvy show on Thursday morning and chatted up his upcoming free agency on the morning show. So the question that all Bears fans want answered: Is he coming to Chicago? Great question. The answer, however, is not so simple. Here is the Tribune headline for Vaughn McClure’s article:
Houshmandzadeh appears open to playing for Bears
and this headline from Brad Biggs’ Inside the Bears blog post:
Houshmandzadeh sounds off and it sounds like Bears aren’t a match
So which is it? Both articles have an excerpt of the transcript from the interview.
From the Trib’s aricle:
"On whether or not he is interested in “the offer” that Tom Waddle made to him about possibly coming to the city of Chicago and playing for the Bears:“Yeah, they have to be interested first. If you worked in the front office, or you were a tight end, we could really talk, but I don’t know how much that’s going to do for me to say I’m interested or I’m not interested.”"
That first line reads to me “Show me the money!” They go on to ask him about Chicago as a possible landing spot:
"“No, I don’t know. You know what’s funny, man? Y’all probably going to laugh at me when I tell you this; I kind of like Rex Grossman.”"
And this on ex-Chicago Bear and former Bengals teammate Cedric Benson:
"“Ced came in there. He did a good job for us, and Ced practiced hard, man. I don’t know what the reputation he had in Chicago, but Ced practices really hard. Everything he does is full speed. It’s so full speed to the point where in walkthrough; he’s running guys over in walkthrough. He practiced hard, and he got a chance to play, and he did well. I don’t know what happened; why things didn’t go exactly the way they planned in Chicago, but a running back is only as good as his offensive line. So, Ced didn’t have the success there that he would have liked, but he went to Cincinnati last year, and he did well. So, he might not be back. So, there’s a lot to remain to be seen at what happens.”"
Isn’t it funny how two people can hear the same interview and come up with such different headlines? You hear what you want to hear I guess. I’ve cut through the headlines and reviewed the transcript and here’s my take. If the Bears throw crazy cash at him, of course he’d be interested in playing here; who wouldn’t be? He is a fan of Grossman and Benson, so it’s clear this guy is clueless. He is already questioning the quarterback situation and the offensive line, so he’s already in mid-Muhsin Muhammed form. Speaking of Moose, Housh is 31, the same age as Moose was when he signed here when he was coming off a career year and we know how that turned out.
He’s been playing alongside the bombastic but talented Chad Ocho Cinco and has had Carson Palmer as his quarterback and what have the Bengals done lately? How will he look with Kyle Orton at the controls and the likes of a still-developing Devin Hester and Rashied Davis alongside? I say go play with Grossman and Benson somewhere else!!!