You do a good job for your employer and you’re compensated. If you do extraordinary work, you’re supposed to get a raise. If you do below average work, you could be reprimanded or worse, you could lose your job.

This is how things are supposed to transpire in the working world, although we all know that it doesn’t always happen that way. Cutbacks cause hard-working people to lose their jobs, while in most cases the higher-ups usually get paid the most to do the least.

In the NFL, players sign non-guaranteed contracts. If they don’t perform or they get hurt, a team has the right to release them and the player won’t see the full amount of their contract. But if a player wants more money, they either have to play out the rest of their deal or force their team’s hand.

That’s the dilemma that Chris Johnson currently finds himself in. Despite having three years left on his current deal, he wants the Titans to offer him more money. He hasn’t participated in any organized team activities this year and even though he said on Monday that he wasn’t upset with his team, recent comments he made on his Twitter page reveal otherwise.

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The Titans insist that they don’t have a problem brewing with running back Chris Johnson. He wants more money, but the team doesn’t believe he’ll actually hold out. GM Mike Reinfeldt is even downplaying the issue by noting how Johnson missed much of last year’s offseason voluntary work too, yet still showed up for day one of training camp.

But the cold, hard reality is that the Titans better be ready to dig their heels in, because CJ appears prepared to hold out as long as he can.

After recently speaking with Johnson about the issue, NFL Network analyst Warren Sapp believes that CJ is serious about holding out beyond training camp.

“There’s going to have to be some talking before Chris goes back to Tennessee,” Sapp said. “He’s prepared to take this through training camp.”

The main problem for the Titans, outside of Johnson’s potential holdout of course, is that they’re hamstrung by the league’s “30 percent” rule, which prohibits large raises being given for future base salaries. So if they were to draw up a new deal for Johnson, it would have to be largely bonus-based, which no team wants to do because that money is usually guaranteed.

One of two things will have to happen in order for the Titans and Johnson to settle this problem. Either the Titans are going to have to get creative in coming up with a new contract or Johnson is just going to have to trust that the team will get him a new deal as soon as a new collective bargaining agreement is signed and the “30 percent” rule is lifted. The Titans could roll the dice and hope that Johnson reports to camp without receiving a new contract, but if he doesn’t, they risk losing their most important player for an extended period of time.

Who will blink first?

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The Titans have a potential problem brewing in regards to running back Chris Johnson, who was not present on Tuesday for the team’s first practice of the offseason.

The 24-year-old Johnson wants a new contract, but the Titans are hamstrung by the “30 percent” rule, which prohibits large raises of future base salaries. Even if the team wanted to pay Johnson, it would have to come up with a deal that was largely bonus-based, which is something the team would ultimately like to avoid.

GM Mike Reinfeldt recently said that he doesn’t expect Johnson to hold out and noted that Chris “has been a pro from Day 1.” But even though he missed much of last year’s offseason voluntary work, Johnson never missed a practice so there is cause for concern.

No running back was more productive than Johnson was last season. He rushed for 2,006 yards and 14 touchdowns, while also hauling in 50 receptions for 503 yards and two scores. The Titans are well aware that he’s their best offensive weapon and would be wise to lock him up long term as soon as they can. But as of right now, Johnson may have to settle for his $550,000 salary in 2010, even though he’s highly underpaid compared to the rest of the backs in the league.

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Titans’ star Chris Johnson doesn’t become a free agent until 2013, but that hasn’t stopped him from boasting that he wants to be the highest paid running back in the league.

From the Nashville Tennessean:

“Hopefully they’ll want to give me a new deal. I think I deserve to be the highest paid running back in the league, or even the highest paid offensive player besides the quarterback,’’ said Johnson, who scored the game-winning touchdown in Sunday night’s Pro Bowl.

“But it’s not like I am not going out in the media saying, ‘Pay me, I want a new deal now.’ I am just saying, if they were to pay me, I want that. Hopefully they want that, too.’’

Johnson has already outperformed his contract in his first two seasons, but isn’t this a little early for contract talk, even if it’s in jest? He still has three more years on his contract and the Titans probably won’t even consider a new contract for him until after the 2010 season. And that’s at the earliest.

I’m sure when the time comes the Titans will do everything in their power to give Johnson what he’s worth.

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Titans’ running back Chris Johnson was voted the Offensive Player of the Year for the 2009 season according to the AP.

Considered the fastest man in pro football, Johnson was uncatchable in setting a league mark for yards from scrimmage (2,509) and becoming the sixth player with a 2,000-yard rushing season.

“I kind of realize what I did and I feel like I had a dream season,” said Johnson, who scored 16 touchdowns (14 rushing), second to Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson, and tied the NFL mark with six consecutive games rushing for at least 125 yards.

Johnson, who has run a 4.2 40 and believes he’ll remain the NFL’s fastest player unless a team signs Usain Bolt, has bigger dreams, too: breaking Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards, and winning the league MVP award.

“I didn’t even get one vote at all (for MVP),” Johnson said. “Like the season I had, it seemed like, `What more do they want me to do?’ That just felt like rookie of the year; it’s a quarterback thing I guess.”

Considering Johnson became just the sixth player in NFL history to run for more than 2,000 yards and set the record for most total yards from scrimmage with 2,509, it is a little perplexing why he didn’t get at least one MVP vote.

But to correct Johnson, it isn’t a “quarterback thing” – it’s a “playoff thing.” Peyton Manning had the Colts on the verge of a perfect season and lifted them to the No. 1 seed in the AFC. For as good as Johnson was this season, the fact that the Titans didn’t make the postseason hurt him when it came down to MVP voting.

Regardless, Johnson was incredibly deserving of OPOY honors and considering this was only his second season, I shudder to think what the future holds for him.

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