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The first mandatory event of the offseason is the full-squad mini-camp in mid-June.
As Cincinnati Enquirer staffer Mark Curnutte initially reported, Palmer spoke to reporters during a break in the team's voluntary off-season strength and conditioning program. Johnson, disgruntled about a number of issues with the Bengals, is skipping the program for the first time.
Palmer said he "100 percent" understood the business side of the league and said he respected Johnson's right to behave similarly to a chief executive officer trying to get a new job.
Still, as a football teammate, Palmer was happy to hear that Johnson would show up.
"I'm hoping he'll be out in L.A. training," Palmer said in reference to extensive on-field throwing he has done with Johnson, T.J. Houshmandzadeh and other Bengals receivers in Los Angeles in the past couple of Julys.
Well. ... The odds of that seem slim indeed given Johnson's response to Palmers' comments.
According to ESPN.com's John Clayton and NFL Network insider Adam Schefter, Johnson quickly fired back -- leaving no room for doubt: He wants out of Cincinnati as fast as possible and he doesn't plan on reporting for any future Bengal function -- mandatory or voluntary.
Clayton stressed that Johnson's comments were a direct reaction to Palmer's comments -- which Johnson says are untrue.
"I want to make this very clear," Johnson told Clayton. "I don't know where he got that. I made no assertion to Carson that I would do that. Nothing has changed from what I've been saying for three months that I don't want to play for the Bengals."
In addition to refuting Palmer, Johnson went on to make one of his strongest statements in saying he is not planning on reporting to any team functions because he wants to be traded.
"I want to be traded before the draft, and if that doesn't happen, I want to be traded as soon as possible," Johnson said. "I don't intend on reporting to anything."
According to Clayton, the Bengals said they have no comment in response to Johnson's statements. A team spokesman pointed to coach Marvin Lewis' statement at the owners meeting that he has fully discussed the Johnson situation and didn't feel it was productive to talk about it again.
In case you missed it, Lewis has made it clear that if Johnson wants to play in the NFL, it will be as a Bengal.
Johnson is skipping the team's offseason workouts as he tries to push for a trade. But the Bengals have also made it clear that they have no plans of trading him.
Lewis has said repeatedly that the team has no plans to deal Johnson, despite the wide receiver making the rounds of radio and television talk shows to voice his displeasure about his situation in Cincinnati.
Despite the Lewis' recent hard-line approach and the Bengals' long history of stubbornness in such instances, Johnson clearly intends to continue pressing the issue.
And it appears burning bridges with the man most responsible for Johnson's individual success in Cincinnati is the next step in his progression.
And if you don't think Johnson's decision to essentially call Palmer a big, fat liar isn't burning bridges, think again. Indeed, in expressing his surprise at Palmer's comments about his possibly reporting to mandatory camp, the Pro Bowl receiver took one last shot.
"I wish he would stay out of my business," Johnson said. "He's taking how I'm feeling as a joke because I think everyone else in the organization is doing the same."
"This is not a joke. I really don't want to play for the Bengals. Period."
Wow. ... Up until this point, I've believed that Johnson's efforts to talk his way out of Cincinnati will ultimately come up short. Now I'm starting to put a little more stock in SI.com senior writer Peter King's theory in which Johnson skips the entire off-season program before the Bengals eventually wear down and dump him to the highest bidder late this summer.
In the meantime, it's safe to assume we haven't heard the last from 85. Stay tuned.