Report: Larry Johnson to sign with Bengals
Posted by Anthony Stalter (11/16/2009 @ 3:56 pm)
According to ESPN.com, Larry Johnson is close to signing a deal with the Cincinnati Bengals. If the team does sign the troubled free agent, it is expected to be for the prorated league minimum.
Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said on Monday that if Johnson were signed that he would be inactive on game days. Cedric Benson (who suffered a hip injury yesterday in a win over the Steelers) would remain the starter and Bernard Scott would keep his No. 2 role. LJ would essentially be added as an insurance policy and would be the fourth tailback on Cincinnati’s depth chart.
This might not be a bad move for the Bengals just in case Benson’s hip injury is worse than originally thought. If Benson is healthy, then Johnson can rot on the sidelines for the rest of the year. If he isn’t, then Johnson can rot on the sidelines for the rest of the year unless Scott showed that he couldn’t handle the full-time rushing duties.
My question is whether or not LJ would ruin the Bengals’ chemistry. That might sound like a ludicrous statement given how dysfunctional Cincinnati has been over the years, but this appears to be a different Bengals team – one that plays together and could be affected by the addition of a cancer like Johnson.
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Will Larry Johnson find a home?
Posted by Anthony Stalter (11/12/2009 @ 11:09 am)
The Steelers and Bears aren’t interested.
The Texans have already said no.
Even the Redskins shot down any potential rumors.
So will Larry Johnson find a home this season?
Johnson, cut by the Chiefs earlier in the week, is looking for a place – any place – to land for the rest of the season. He has already said that he’s willing to take a role as a backup, but even that hasn’t enticed teams to sign him.
LJ picked a bad time to be a malcontent (not that any time is the right time to be a malcontent). We’re to the point in the NFL season where bad teams are playing younger players in order to get a feel for whether or not they have a long-term future with the club and where the good teams don’t want to disrupt the locker room by bringing in a bad seed like Johnson.
LJ’s only shot is for a team to recognize that they’re on the bubble of making a second half push and would risk signing him to add some talent. The Bears, Jets, Dolphins, Texans, Jaguars, Ravens, 49ers, Giants, Packers and Panthers all fit into that category, but for one reason or another Johnson wouldn’t be a fit for any of them.
If I were to take a stab at where Johnson might wind up, my best guess would be Seattle. The Seahawks’ season is hanging in the balance and they definitely need help at running back. But the problem is that Johnson hasn’t been very good this season and the Hawks just cut a veteran running back that wasn’t very good in Edgerrin James. So why add Johnson, a player just as unproductive as James was but with more baggage, to the roster?
Given his history of off-field issues and his lack of emotion, desire and production, there’s a good chance that Larry Johnson won’t be playing for anyone this season.
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Will any team sign Larry Johnson? Chiefs fans petitioning franchise to dump Larry Johnson
Posted by John Paulsen (11/04/2009 @ 4:06 pm)
Johnson is only 75 yards away from becoming the team’s all-time leading rusher, and a group of Chiefs fans are petitioning the club to release him before that happens.
An online petition started by Chiefs fans asks general manager Scott Pioli to deactivate Johnson and keep him on the sideline so he cannot pass Priest Holmes for the team rushing record, or join the team’s Ring of Honor at Arrowhead Stadium.
“While we are thankful for his service, we feel that Larry has been a black eye on the organization and has no business being mentioned” among the team’s all-time greats, the petition reads.
After his Twitter blow up a few weeks ago, I don’t think Johnson is in any danger of donning a Chiefs uniform again, but you never know. These Chiefs fans are figuring it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Chiefs, Johnson working on a settlement
Posted by Anthony Stalter (10/30/2009 @ 9:06 am)
According to a report by the Kansas City Star, the Chiefs and troubled running back Larry Johnson are working on some kind of settlement that would decide LJ’s future with the team.
Asked whether that settlement would involve a separation from the team, (Johnson’s agent) Schaffer said: “Not necessarily.”
Schaffer said Johnson’s side is working on an appeal of the two-week suspension the team handed down Wednesday for detrimental conduct. Schaffer said Wednesday night that he hoped an appeal would be filed early Thursday, and it’s possible that settlement talks could delay that appeal.
Johnson would lose more than $600,000 if he serves the full two-week suspension. He also could face further punishment from the league and the Chiefs when this suspension expires Nov. 9.
This situation seems a little ridiculous. Johnson was out of line, the Chiefs suspended him and will decide his future with the team over the course of the next two weeks. So what is there to “settle?”
There’s a good chance that Johnson will never play another down with the Chiefs, so maybe the team is trying to work out a deal where LJ gets to keep part of his contract if he just goes away. Then again, there have been reports that the Chiefs don’t want to outright release him because then it provokes other players to act up if they want to get out of town. So I don’t know what to think at this point.
We’ll see what comes out of this “settlement.”
Chiefs suspend Larry Johnson for two weeks
Posted by Anthony Stalter (10/29/2009 @ 8:34 am)
The Chiefs have suspended running back Larry Johnson two weeks for conduct detrimental to the team after he took a shot at head coach Todd Haley via his Twitter page last Sunday night. He also used a homophobic slur to degrade another Twitter user that had criticized him for his off-field troubles.
Kansas City is on a bye this week, so Johnson might only miss one game. But during the next two weeks, the Chiefs will evaluate backup Jamaal Charles and then see how Johnson responds to the punishment.
LJ should take a page out of Brandon Marshall’s playbook and respond favorably to his suspension. When the Broncos suspended Marshall earlier this season, he apologized and then when he returned, he was on his best behavior. He hasn’t complained since and now he’s on an undefeated team that is considering re-signing him to a long-term extension.
Granted, Marshall and Johnson’s situations are a little different. LJ isn’t playing for a new contract like Marshall is and even if he does turn into a choirboy, the Chiefs have zero shot of making the playoffs (unlike the Broncos). That said, Johnson owes it to his teammates and his organization not to be a distraction, especially considering that he isn’t even producing on the field. He does his team and himself more harm if he’s a malcontent then if he just owns up to what he did and move on.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens. The smart money is on Johnson being released either during or after the season. The Chiefs will probably make him suffer the rest of the year in Kansas City and then dispose of him in the offseason. Given his age, lack of production and off field issues, there’s just no reason to keep him in a Chiefs uniform.
