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Well, our favorite journalist finally has done it. He's proven to all that he has zero shame.

In his never-ending quest to submerge his entire cranium into the crap factories of the various agents who funnel information to him, ESPN.com's Len Pasquarelli has buried his bulbous proboscis into the hind quarters of agent Drew Rosenhaus by characterizing the new contract signed by Bengals receiver Chad Johnson as a "monster" deal.

It's not a monster deal. It's a six-year contract with $5.5 million in bonus money payable in 2006 and $4.5 million in non-guaranteed bonus money due in 2007. At a total of $35.5 million over six years, Johnson's take averages less than $6 million per season.

Less than $6 million per year for one of the best three receivers in the league? A monster deal?

In contrast, Colts receiver Reggie Wayne is averaging $6.5 million per year -- and he's still playing second fiddle to Marvin Harrison in Indy.

Look, we're not knocking Drew for getting the Bengals to re-do what in hindsight was a horrendous deal negotiated by Johnson's former agent, Jerome Stanley. Johnson signed for the long haul before his career took off, resulting in gross overperformance -- and gross underpayment.

Regardless, the Bengals had Johnson locked up for four more years, and the folks in Cincy easily could have pulled a Philly on Chad, taking the position that they expect him to honor his contract. Rosenhaus played this one right, persuading the team to tear up the prior paperwork and give Johnson a healthy chunk of new money.

Under the old contract, Johnson would have received paltry salaries of $2.75 million, $3 million, $3.4 million, and $3.6 million, for a total of $12.75 million in base pay. (Pasquarelli curiously says that the remaining base salaries under the prior deal were only $12.15 million, which of course makes the new deal look ever better in comparison.) Johnson also was set to receiver $1.25 million in workout and roster bonuses, making his old deal worth $14 million over four years -- an average of $3.5 million.

The new contract pays out a total of $21.5 million in new money, even though it only ties up Johnson for two more seasons.

Because Rosenhaus didn't negotiate the prior deal, he'll collect a fee on the new money only. Stanley will get his fee as to money that was set to be paid under the prior deal.

So Rosenhaus, in our view, did an admirable job under difficult circumstances. At a time when more than a few members of the team believe that Johnson gets special treatment from coach Marvin Lewis, the Bengals surely were leery about the message that would be sent within the locker room by giving a raise to a guy with four years remaining on the deal to which he signed his name.

But let's not be naive. In the grand scheme of things, Johnson is still underpaid. For Pasquarelli to suggest otherwise proves to us convincingly that he has no integrity.

And that makes sense to us, because as agent Marvin Demoff once told us in specific reference to Len, you can only lose your integrity once.

We're hearing that the "physical" taken by free-agent linebacker LaVar Arrington with the Giants was, in reality, an MRI on his knee.

There's been talk around the league for much of the last year that Arrington's knee contains no cartilage, making him a potential candidate for microfracture surgery if he can't tolerate bone-on-bone contact over the long haul.

We don't know for a fact whether Arrington is actually missing all of the cartilage in his knee, and we'll defer to the expert opinions of any of the licensed physcians who review the results of the MRI or otherwise inspect Arrington's knee.

Though G.M. Ernie Accorsi tries to downplay the physical, its import is as obvious as Ernie's jet black hair hat.

"He has had a physical with us," Accorsi said. "That's all that's taken place. If this triggers another round of hysteria, it will be inaccurate just like the last round. Nothing has happened in the negotiations. Obviously, you're not even going to think about a player without a physical examination. Now we have that."

There have been previous reports of disagreement among the coaching staff and the front office regarding whether to sign Arrington. He has a reputation for freelancing, and the Soup Nazi prefers a higher level of discipline.

Other teams interested in the former Redskin, who gave up $4.4 million in earned bonus money to hit the market in March instead of July, are the Packers, Bengals, Jaguars, and Dolphins.

We were amazed to see Packers quarterback Brett Favre (the whole "He Who" thing is getting stale) chiming in regarding the treatment of quarterback Steve McNair by the Titans. Even though they have the same agent, the relationship between the Titans and McNair is none of Lord Favre's business.

"All of the things he has done for that team," Favre said Thursday. "He really has been the face of that team for the last 10 or 11 years, the one bright spot really. To be treated that way I think is really unfair. He doesn't deserve it. . . . It is not right."

But if Favre believes it's proper for the quarterback of one team to comment on matters relating to the quarterback of another team, we invite any of the other 30 starting quarterbacks in the NFL to weigh in regarding the manner in which Favre has been stringing along the Cheeseheads regarding his "I'm afraid we'll suck again" crybaby routine.

Here's a suggested quote for anyone who might be interested: "All of the things those fans have done for him. To be treated that way I think is really unfair. They don't deserve it. . . . It is not right."

Arriving on Thursday at yours truly's office was a sleek new Samsung A900 phone, purchased earlier this week from the Sprint website. The thing is impressive. The A900 makes the Razr look like a rusty old pair of scissors.

It has a mind-numbing array of features, it's ridiculously thin, and Florio Jr. won't take his grimy hands off of it.

Anyway, we highly recommend the thing. And you can get it by clicking the Sprint ads on this page.

Williams was cleared of two other misdemeanors -- indecent conduct and lewd or lascivious behavior. Though there are no reports regarding Williams' sentence, we suspect that he will serve little if any jail time, and that he will be placed on probation and required to perform community service.

The charges stemmed from the October 2005 Love Boat fiasco. Vikings tackle Bryant McKinnie and cornerback Fred Smoot have not yet been tried. A judge recently dismissed misdemeanor charges against former Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper.

It has been reported that the prosecutor had not decided whether to re-file the charges against Culpepper. It's possible that the partial victory in the trial against Williams could be enough to prompt another run at the guy who was traded to Miami for a second-round pick in March.

During the trial, defense lawyer Joe Friedberg said that Williams, who played with both the Vikings and Ravens, has retired from the NFL. Based on Friedberg's skills in predicting the outcome of jury trials, don't be surprised if Williams signs with a new team tomorrow.

As we've previously explained, we firmly believe that Wilson's recent Mr.-Magoo-meets-Chicken-Little routine regarding the plight of the Buffalo franchise under the new CBA specifically was intended to influence the manner in which the qualifying factors for supplemental revenue sharing were devised. Indeed, we'd learned from credible league sources that one of Wilson's core concerns -- that a new owner would be ineligible for revenue sharing -- was simply unfounded.

Also at the meeting was NBC's Tim Russert. Though we like the guy, we also think he simply had no business horning in on a matter that doesn't involve him, unless he's now moonlighting for NBC Sports.

We're hearing that Wednesday's statement from quarterback Joey Harrington regarding his interest in joining the Dolphins was triggered by the news that the Broncos had picked up extra picks in exchange for the No. 22 overall selection in the April 29-30 draft.

We're told that Harrington and his agent, David Dunn, concluded that the move might be a precursor to a trade of Harrington to Denver. So Dunn and Harrington opted to put out the word that the former No. 3 overall pick wants to play for the Dolphins.

Dunn believes that he holds all of the cards on this one, since he can block a trade by refusing on Harrington's behalf to restructure a contract that presently calls for a $4 million roster bonus on June 15. But if the Lions decide to hold firm and not release Joey until June 14, it will be too late for Harrington to get ready to be the opening-day starter for the Dolphins, if Daunte Culpepper isn't sufficiently recovered from his torn ligament trifecta. Indeed, it's likely that the Dolphins will look elsewhere for a backup quarterback if they can't get Harrington under contract soon.

We're also hearing that the Dolphins are willing to bump their current offer from a seventh-round pick to a sixth-round selection. The only problem in this regard is that the Fins currently don't have a sixth-rounder, so they'd have to swing a trade with someone else to get the six.

The Lions, we're told, still want at least a fourth-round pick. There's talk that the Lions might reduce their demands to a fifth-rounder.

The Dolphins used their fifth-round pick last summer in the supplemental draft, when they selected USC defensive tackle Manuel Wright.

For reasons that we can't quite discern, we're just don't buy Aaron Taylor's stated reason for walking away from ABC.

The lawyer for former Vikings RB Moe Williams, currently on trial for his role in the Love Boat affair, is tempting fate with comments like this one: "Only an imbecile could lose this case."

The Packers plan to part ways with 2005 second-round WR Terrence Murphy, whose ability to play is still unclear after suffering a serious neck injury last year.

A firm has been chosen to design a new stadium for the 49ers. (Local fans are hoping for 60,000 seats with fully-obstructed views.)

We've got no problem with Pats coach Bill Belichick being tight-lipped, but why even have a pre-draft press conference if nothing of any substance is going to be said? (Maybe Belichick and He Who No Longer Shall Be Named have the same publicist.)

One of the big concerns that NFL types have had regarding USC quarterback Matt Leinart is that he possibly doesn't have a sufficient interest in playing pro football. The first red flag for some came a year ago, when Leinart opted not to enter the draft, even though he had just won the Heisman and the National Championship.

"Does he really love football?" is a question that was whispered among league and media types at the time.

The questions returned earlier this year, when Leinart signed with Creative Artists Agency, a well-established Hollywood talent firm.

We're now hearing from our own Hollywood connections (and, amazingly, we actually have Hollywood connections) that there's an expectation within CAA that Leinart might not play in the NFL for very long. One of the factors, we're told, will be Leinart's ultimate NFL destination. He wants to play for the New York Jets. If he plays in a smaller city (as in every other one), he might not be inclined to stick with pro football for the long haul.

Meanwhile, we hear that CAA hopes to parlay the addition of Leinart and former IMG agent Tom Condon into a massive football practice.

From CAA's perspective, the firm stands to earn a lot more money from Matt the star than Matt the football player, since agent fees for football contracts are capped at three percent.

In response to rumors we've heard that Ryan and Bruce Tollner might be leaving Leigh Steinberg's firm, Steinberg says such talk is off the mark.

"Ryan, Bruce, and I have contemplated doing a restructuring of our firm," Steinberg said in a voice message on Wednesday. But he said that "[n]o one will leave our firm."

Steinberg also said that the Tollners have been in "day-to-day operational control of the firm," and that "they have been the lead agents" in the practice.

"Whatever the source you have on some of this -- if it's David Dunn's people or anyone else -- we're together on Ben Roethlisberger and the rest of the clients, and we will have an ongoing relationship."

Regarding Dunn, Steinberg had this to say regarding our implicit comparison of the Tollners to Steinberg's former partner, if the Tollner were to attempt to leave and carry clients with them. "Don't ever compare them to David Dunn in terms of integrity and character," Steinberg said.

Dunn and Steinberg had a nasty split several years ago, resulting in a $42 million verdict against Dunn that later was overturned. Dunn ultimately landed in bankruptcy, in an apparent effort to block the NFLPA from imposing a two-year suspension on him based upon information that came out during the Steinberg litigation.

We also heard from Leigh nearly two weeks ago, after posting a story regarding the possibility that Matt Leinart will part ways with Steinberg following Tom Condon's decision to leave IMG for Creative Artists Agency. Steinberg said the relationship with Leinart is "very strong," and that "[i]t will go on for as long as my 23 years with Warren Moon."

Two days later, we received a tip that Leinart would soon terminate Steinberg. We sat on the information. Two days thereafter, the shoe dropped.

To his credit, Steinberg contacted us after the fact to apologize for unwittingly giving us bad information. He reiterated that sentiment in his voice message from Wednesday.

"I didn't see it coming," he said. "Sometimes maybe your information is better than mine."

And the irony now is that the information regarding the possible departure of the Tollners comes from the same source who told us about Leinart's looming decision.

With all that said, we like Steinberg. Every time we've ever spoken to him, we've come away from the conversation with a better understanding of the football business. He's a pioneer in the agent business, and every guy eating shrimp cocktail now should acknowledge that Steinberg had a key role in blazing the trail on which they now tread.

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