Following the Chiefs’ embarrassing loss to the Chargers on Sunday, running back Larry Johnson took a couple verbal swipes at head coach Todd Haley via his Twitter page, then proceeded to use a homophobic slur to degrade another Twitter user.
Here are LJ’s tweets (from Yahoo! Sports):
• “my father got more creditentials than most of these pro coaches. … google my father!!!!!!!”
• “My father played for the coach from “rememeber the titans”. Our coach played golf. My father played for redskins briefley. Our coach. Nuthn”
Following those messages, an exchange appeared between Johnson’s account and another Twitter user, in which the other user made a reference to an incident in which Johnson pled guilty to disturbing the peace after allegedly spitting into the face of a female patron at a nightclub. A message on Johnson’s account referred to the other Twitter user’s profile picture with a homophobic slur, calling it a “[expletive] pic” and called the user a “Christopher street boy.” Christopher Street is a well-known New York City street which became famous as a symbol for the city’s gay-pride movement.
The message posted in Johnson’s account containing the homophobic slur read:
• “think bout a clever diss then that wit ur [expletive] pic. Christopher street boy. Is what us east coast cats call u.”
The final message of the night on Johnson’s account read:
• “Make me regret it. Lmao. U don’t stop my checks. Lmao. So “tweet” away.”
Johnson’s agent tried to put out the fire claiming that Johnson was just trying to pump his father up and didn’t mean to degrade Haley. But it’s pretty clear by Johnson’s tweets that he was taking a shot at his head coach.
This isn’t the first time that Johnson has gotten into a controversial situation off the field. He has had four arrests for various degrees of battery since the Chiefs drafted him in 2003, including an incident in which he spat in the face of a female at a nightclub. That incident cost him a one-game suspension.
Outside of a potential cap hit (which would be in excess of over $8 million), what’s stopping GM Scott Pioli from dumping Johnson now? LJ turns 30 in November, is averaging a career-worst 2.7 yards per carry and he continues to be a distraction. I realize he has been on his best behavior under the new regime up until this point, but this Twitter situation seems like another one of his attempts to get traded. The Chiefs are trying to move in a new direction under Haley and Pioli and they can’t do it if everyone isn’t on the same page.
If Johnson doesn’t fit into their long-term plans, then KC should cut bait and move on. Every year teams find running back gems in the draft and Pioli is one of the best player evaluators in the NFL. They could easily find a more productive running back and one that has less baggage.
Again, the cap hit would be tough for the Chiefs to swallow, but Johnson hasn’t done squat since he signed his new contract a couple years ago. The positives of cutting LJ seem to outweigh the negatives.
