Never one to pass on the opportunity to speak his mind, Keyshawn Johnson ripped Brandon Marshall and Anquan Boldin in a recent article by SI.com’s Don Banks.
“Brandon Marshall, what have you ever done?” Johnson said. “You went to one Pro Bowl, maybe two. You caught a bunch of balls because they threw them to you. Have you even won a playoff game yet? Guys like me and Michael Irvin, we all won rings. Win a ring first and then talk that way.
“He says he doesn’t want to play in Denver because he doesn’t have a quarterback now that Jay Cutler is in Chicago. Please. When I was with the Jets, our starting quarterbacks were Ray Lucas, Frank Reich, Neil O’Donnell, Glenn Foley, Rick Mirer and Vinny Testaverde. And he’s complaining about having to play with Kyle Orton? You should worry about making your quarterback better.”
Johnson serves as an ESPN analyst during the NFL season, and this offseason has been devoting his energies to his new show about decorating on the A&E network: Tackling Design. His opinions apparently never get rusty, no matter what time of year it is.
“I keep seeing where Anquan Boldin wants to be traded from Arizona, or he wants to be paid like Larry Fitzgerald,” Johnson said. “Anquan, you’re a glorified T.J. Houshmandzadeh, so cut it out. They’re the same player. You want $11 million? Why don’t you take the $8 million they’re offering and be happy? You’re not Larry Fitzgerald.”
Not that I disagree with him, but I love how Key essentially takes a dump on his former Jet quarterbacks while hammering Marshall. If I’m Ray Lucas, I’m thinking to myself, “Hey, thanks Keyshawn – and sorry I was such an inconvenience for you during your playing days.”
I see what Johnson’s getting at, but I don’t think it’s fair to call Boldin and Houshmandzadeh the same player. They’re both incredibly productive, but Boldin is a few years younger and therefore might command more money. Now, is he worth $3 million more than Housh? Probably not, but $9.5 mil a year would be incredibly fair for Boldin’s services in my opinion.
