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Keyshawn won’t be shy about handing out his opinions on draft day
by Steve Reed
Gazette Sports Reporter
CHARLOTTE — You want opinions on the NFL draft?
Well, Carolina Panthers receiver Keyshawn Johnson has got them — plenty of them — and he plans to share a lot of them with you this weekend, appearing as a guest analyst for ESPN as part of their two-day draft coverage.
Never one who to be be short of words or fail to tell it like it is, Johnson, a former No. 1 pick by the New York Jets, is once again center stage at the draft.
He’ll work alongside Chris Berman, Mel Kiper Jr. and Chris Mortensen and the rest of the gang at ESPN throughout the weekend live from New York City. It’s his second venture into television — he’s worked in the past with Fox Sports.
Given that Johnson is still a member of the Panthers, it puts him in an awkward position whereby run-ning the risk of alienating a future teammate — or perhaps even worse, a future opponent — if he makes a derogatory comment.
But he’s not concerned.
“I’m here to talk to the viewers and give them a perspective of what I think the highest potential is and what he can add to a football team,” Johnson said in a conference call this week on ESPN. “The least of my worries is if I’m going to rub somebody the wrong way. You are what you are at the end of the day. A leopard never changes his spots.
“A wide receiver or a quarterback, if he can play, he can play. If he can’t, it doesn’t take a rocket sci-entist to figure that out.”
Johnson, who has always followed the comings and goings in the NFL, said he’s done intense prepara-tion for the draft, watching large amounts of game film.
Georgia Tech’s Calvin Johnson has a chance to become the first wide receiver taken in the NFL draft, something that is a very rare occasion in the league.
“Wide receivers are like ‘two’ guards in the NBA,” said Johnson, the No. 1 pick in 1996. “You can find one almost anywhere. When you take a guy No. 1, that guy is never supposed to hit the free agent mar-ket. You can trade him if he has value to get other picks, but you better make sure that this guy is all what he is cracked up to be.
“He better be better than the franchise quarterback. I don’t see any team that is picking in the top eight in the draft that is one wide receiver away from going to the Super Bowl.”
Johnson is a Pro Bowl talker and should help fill a lot of time for ESPN between picks.
http://www.gastongazette.com/sections/sports/panthers/?id=1565
by Steve Reed
Gazette Sports Reporter
CHARLOTTE — You want opinions on the NFL draft?
Well, Carolina Panthers receiver Keyshawn Johnson has got them — plenty of them — and he plans to share a lot of them with you this weekend, appearing as a guest analyst for ESPN as part of their two-day draft coverage.
Never one who to be be short of words or fail to tell it like it is, Johnson, a former No. 1 pick by the New York Jets, is once again center stage at the draft.
He’ll work alongside Chris Berman, Mel Kiper Jr. and Chris Mortensen and the rest of the gang at ESPN throughout the weekend live from New York City. It’s his second venture into television — he’s worked in the past with Fox Sports.
Given that Johnson is still a member of the Panthers, it puts him in an awkward position whereby run-ning the risk of alienating a future teammate — or perhaps even worse, a future opponent — if he makes a derogatory comment.
But he’s not concerned.
“I’m here to talk to the viewers and give them a perspective of what I think the highest potential is and what he can add to a football team,” Johnson said in a conference call this week on ESPN. “The least of my worries is if I’m going to rub somebody the wrong way. You are what you are at the end of the day. A leopard never changes his spots.
“A wide receiver or a quarterback, if he can play, he can play. If he can’t, it doesn’t take a rocket sci-entist to figure that out.”
Johnson, who has always followed the comings and goings in the NFL, said he’s done intense prepara-tion for the draft, watching large amounts of game film.
Georgia Tech’s Calvin Johnson has a chance to become the first wide receiver taken in the NFL draft, something that is a very rare occasion in the league.
“Wide receivers are like ‘two’ guards in the NBA,” said Johnson, the No. 1 pick in 1996. “You can find one almost anywhere. When you take a guy No. 1, that guy is never supposed to hit the free agent mar-ket. You can trade him if he has value to get other picks, but you better make sure that this guy is all what he is cracked up to be.
“He better be better than the franchise quarterback. I don’t see any team that is picking in the top eight in the draft that is one wide receiver away from going to the Super Bowl.”
Johnson is a Pro Bowl talker and should help fill a lot of time for ESPN between picks.
http://www.gastongazette.com/sections/sports/panthers/?id=1565
