Houshmandzadeh Hearts Eagles

At one point during the NFL Network's 55 hours of Super Bowl week coverage, Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson made his way on set. The conversation, inevitably, focused on Mr. Ocho Cinco's ploy to change his name, as well as his sometimes rocky relationship with head coach Marvin Lewis.

But Johnson was also asked about teammate T.J. Houshmandzadeh -- who is scheduled to be a free agent next month -- and whether his future is in Cincy. Chad adamantly assured co-host Deion Sanders that Housh would indeed be back because (and I'm paraphrasing here), "he loves playing for the Bengals and he loves playing with me."

Obviously, a big part of Johnson's public persona is showman, so he might've just been flapping his gums. And Houshmandzadeh's comments yesterday on a Philly radio station suggest as much.

"If the Eagles are interested in me, let's put it like this. If they'll be interested in me, I'll be interested in them," he said when asked if the Eagles would be his top choice. ...

"Did you watch the Eagles and the Bengals game during the season? I was just giving Andy Reid, I was giving him an interview in person," Houshmandzadeh said. "That's all I was doing. I was giving him a three-month interview ahead of time. That's all."

One option for the Bengals: franchise Houshmazilly. The problem -- at least according to NFL.com's Adam Schefter -- is that the team won't franchise a wideout. Which means that they'll either try to sign him to a long-term deal or let him walk.

If it's the latter, the Eagles seem like a reasonable landing spot. Virtually every offseason, between the "Is this McNabb's final year in Philly?" questions, the discussion invariably turns how the team lacks a big-play wideout. Drafting DeSean Jackson last April mitigated some of that, but he's young; Houshmandzadeh's racked up more than 900 receiving yards in five straight seasons, and never caught fewer than 73 passes over that time.

And if Andy Reid needs one more reason: T.J.'s all about signing on the dotted line. No muss, no fuss. Or something. "If I get an offer from a team that I'm interested in, it's a done deal," said Houshmandzadeh. "You don't need to wine and dine me, so to speak. I'm not a woman. I don't need to be taken out and go out at ... no; I don't need none of that, man." Um, yeah.