When it comes to the contract standoff between the Tennessee Titans and star running back Chris Johnson, the two sides seem to be moving farther and farther apart.
For example, when informed that Johnson wants $30 million to $40 million guaranteed, coach Jeff Fisher reportedly said on Tuesday, “So would I. . . . You know he’s under contract right now.”
Comments like that, frankly, won’t do anything to get Johnson to tuck tail and return to Tennessee without a raise.
So how can this one be resolved? Both sides need to find a way to save some face, and Johnson needs to get some more money into his pockets. Given that he surely has unlocked some out-year escalators in light of his performance during the first two years of his career, the Titans should consider shifting some of that money — which will never actually be paid if Johnson gets an extension — into 2010.
And Johnson needs to be willing to take it. He says he can’t play for $550,000. Maybe he should consider playing for, say, three times that amount.
The goal would be to give Johnson enough money to create the sense that he’s being treated fairly in light of what he brings to the table, but to defer the big-money deal that the Titans apparently aren’t ready to give him.
It makes plenty of sense. Which probably means it’ll never happen.
Shut up and play…
Mike, I got one for you. ESPN says that Ronnie Brown has to show up by Aug 10 or risk losing a year toward free agency because of the 30-day rule. That seems contrary to what you’ve posted here because he’s unsigned and he’s got far more than 3 years in the league. Wuh…..
Cincinnasty says:
June 22, 2010 8:31 PM
Shut up and play…
Exactly!!!
I don’t see how the Titans “need to find a way to save face”. Johnson is under contract he has to show up or he will be fined, & of course he can’t afford that. & if he doesn’t show at all, he’ll lose the year that would have counted towards free agency. I don’t see how he has any leverage here.
When will they be ready to give him the long deal? Why wait til he’s older? Give him 5 years of big money now, and you’ll probably get your money’s worth even if he isn’t at that same level for the last year and a half.
By the way, he shouldn’t play for 550K, it’s not fair.
He is making like 3 million per year, after you factor in his signing bonus. It’s not the Titans fault her cannot remember that long ago.
wow, so meeting him in the middle means playing for around 2 million?
I don’t know mr. johnson, but I am willing to bet a year’s subscription to PFT that the middle of $550,000 and $40,000,000 guaranteed is a bit more than three times $550,000.
Good luck with that GM job Florio.
With the signing binus he rec’d ALREADY…is he not close to playing for 3 times $550k?
That’s what happens when your first priority is buying a grill, you kinda lose track of simple things – like a bank balance…
I do not understand the “shut up and play comments” whatsoever. Chris Johnson is an elite running back in the league and is grossly underpaid. Yes he signed a contract, but he has outplayed it and I do not blame him for not wanting to play for $550k. Being one of the most explosive players in the NFL not only sells jerseys, but it sells seats and captures audiences on television. The amount of money that Johnson generates by being a great player is more than likely a lot.
Also, he is the centerpiece to their offense. He had one of the best seasons a running back has had, and there is no reward for it? A team should pay its best players what they deserve, and since the Titans are A LOT worse off without Johnson…I would hope they come to their senses and pay him the money.
I do think that $30-40m is too much, especially for a running back but I do think a new contract is completely reasonable.
For what it’s worth, he’s not playing for $550k…he’s playing for $1.6 million (taking into account bonus pro-rations), which is also, coincidentally, his salary portion taken into account for the 30% rule.
“…Johnson has made a total of $7.27 million so far, and can make $3.56 million on the remaining three years of his deal. ”
http://espn.go.com/blog/afcsouth/post/_/id/11873/chris-johnson-contract-math
“By the way, he shouldn’t play for 550K, it’s not fair.?”
Exactly is honoring your contract not fair? He or his agent should have put in performance bonuses if he thought he was going to perform well.
If he sat on the bench all of last year I’m fairly sure he wouldn’t have written a check to the Titans for not playing.
logic tells me,pay the man,working in rubble pits for 70-80hrs a week,tells me,shut up and play diva
I have an idea- rework his contract so that he can make the big bucks if he performs big. What’s so difficult about that?
If he thinks he should get paid top dollar then make him earn it by putting up the stats for more than just a season. We’ve seen too many times what happens once the huge guaranteed pay day occurs…
He’s not playing for 550. He’s only due 550 this year, but overall he got paid better than that. Maybe he just burned through his down payment, and 550 won’t cover his expenses this year. Too bad for him. The Titans should bump him up, but 30 to 40M guaranteed? There are at least two things wrong with that. First, he should pick a number, not a range. Second, that’s just too much money, even at 30 million.
stop the whining already!you signed the contract now live with it!were you complaining when the titans gave a guranteed siging bonus?so after 1 great year they should break the bank on you and hope you don’t hurt yourself after sign the contract?or would you be willing to give part of it back should you not have that same type of year?bottom line you are paid to play football good year or bad so shut up and play!if he holds out untill game 10 then the titans should put him on the field the first game and if he has a career ending injury to bad,he will then find out what it’s like not making 500 grand a year!
Florio: “Both sides need to find a way to save some face, and Johnson needs to get some more money into his pockets.”
That’s funny because about one week ago MDS of this here site said, essentially, that Johnson WOULD play for the $550 K (or less) and like it.
Me thinks that since the Titans have no viable option at RB (certainly no one near Chris Johnson’s caliber) the Titans will cave in early August. Without CJ the Titans are nowhere – ESPECIALLY with Vince Young at QB.
Chris Johnson is the best running back in the NFL and one of the top offensive players in the game. What are the Titans thinking?… THEY NEED TO PAY THE MAN!! Enough said.
You think all the NFL players saw how much JaFlubber got paid FOR DOING NOTHING and now they all figure to get a piece of the big money? (Performers and busts alike…)
his cap hit was about $1.8 mil last year, for simplicity’s sake that’s what he got paid for 2009. That’s not a lot for a guy who just had 2500 total yards. His life expectancy is about 5-7 more years in the NFL the way the Titans are working him, and if the Titans choose to pay him more they should have no problem paying him more than they’d ideally want to.
Find a way to make the next 3 years, in which he’s gonna make about $7 million, total out to about $15 million of which 2/5 or so is guaranteed. That’s a compromise I’d think both sides could find agreeable. I have no idea how practical it is, but if the Titans get creative with guaranteed money, something like that amount of a raise can be navigated around the 30% rule.
CJ is worth 3x what he’s due to make this year, just for putting butts in the seats. You can’t cry “foul” when a star player holds out, because star players hold out every year and they end up getting big money. Why shouldn’t CJ do what countless others have done before him? In this league, can anyone honestly say $550,000 is fair for the punishment he goes through every week? He deserves a raise, and I don’t blame him for holding out.
give him like a 3 million bonus for the year or maybe even 5 million
Based on last season he is worth a top 10 HB salary and if I were him I would just shut up, report to camp and inform the team I have a mysterious “groin” problem. It would solve the problem completey
Johnson would get paid his 550 for the year, he would be one year closer to free agency and he wouldnt have to risk injury playing football.
At that point the titans could either put him on IR OR pay him to rid himself of that mysterious injury.
I would sit out before I would take a penny less.
Blame Dan Snyder but this man needs paid.
We all know Chris will eventually get more money. Lame that he plays this out publicly. If he is willing to sit unless he actually gets the numbers he’s said he’s demanding I hope he gets a comfy chair…
Dear Titans and Chargers,
Keep treating your players like this. It’s the right thing to do.
Looking forward to hanging out soon at the bottom of the barrel.
Love,
Bill Bellicheck
This makes for another good reason to have a rookie (incentive ladden)salary cap…have a 2-3 year cap maybe an option after year 1-2 to go long term if both can agree and/or after 3- 4 years become unrestricted free agents …This way the teams and players get whats needed..less big payouts to players who don’t produce(GoLions!)…Players who do outpreform their contracts have a quicker chance to make big money in the short time they get to earn…also a performance bonus instead of a signing bonus the first 2-3 years having to earn the right to a signing bonus after years vested…and then the signing bonus be say a quarter or half upfront(injuries get a payout or % of) the rest prorated to games played/camps attended etc…
A $15,000 a day fine for missing mandatory practice will eat into $550k pretty quickly CJ…Can you pawn a grill?
Why do “fans” constantly freak out when a player wants to hold out for more money, when the teams rarely honor the contracts they sign their players to? This player just happens to be the best at his position and extremely underpaid.
You ppl kill me with the shut up and play talk. We all know contracts don’t mean sh*t in the NFL. Teams are quick to rip up a contract and cut a player once he under performs but yet they want to try to hold players to there current contract even when its evident CJ has out performed it. CJ is underpaid by RB standards, he’s the most explosive and probably best all gparound RB in the NFL.
Save the talk about how he needs to prove himself for a few more years. Players get huge signing bonus’s based off of one good/great season all the time. If that’s your arguemment then teams shouldn’t cut a player if he’s under performing for atleast 3-5yrs. CJ has put together 2 very good seasons and more than likely will have another great season this year.
Does anybody not factor in how much of a pounding these RB’s take over a 16 game season, no wonder RB’s typically have short careers, he needs to capatilize and max out his earning power now.
Hold on, to all those of you that say that he should honor his contract.
Teams can cut players at anytime and not pay them the unguaranteed portion of their contracts, which normally is huge.
Shouldn’t they honor their contracts too?
If contracts were guaranteed like in baseball and basketball, then yes, I would say, “suck it up and honor it,” but they are not.
Running backs take a lot of hits and can get injured easily. What if e gets injured next year and never gets back to where he was this past season?
I can totally understand where he is coming from.