Want to trade for Larry Johnson? Read this:

[joseephuss]

Is L.J. the next Eric Dickerson, a terrific player and locker-room cancer with the Rams, Colts, Raiders and Falcons?

Or is L.J. the next Eddie George, Jamal Anderson, Terrell Davis or James Wilder?

Even if LJ turns out to be the next George, Anderson or Wilder it may still not be a good thing. Each of those guys carried the ball over 400 times in a single season. They started going down hill quickly after that.

Eddie George was able to provide the Titans with a lot of carries after carrying it 403 times in 2000, but his average fell to 3.23 yards per carry after that season.

Jamal Anderson set the record at that time with 410 rushes in 1998 and then injured his leg the next season. He averaged 3.58 yards per carry in the 3 years after he topped 400 carries.

James Wilder set the record at that time with 407 rushes in 1984. He got 1300 yards with a 3.56 yards per carry average the next season, but then failed to reach more than 704 yards his remaining 5 seasons.

Eric Dickerson is the only one who topped 400 carries in a season and then continued playing at a high level for a few more seasons.

Larry Johson set the current record for most attempts in a season with 416 last year. He is averaging 27 rushing attempts a game since he became the main guy after Priest Holmes got injured. That is a tremendous amount of pounding. The most Emmitt got was just over 23 rushing attempts per game over his busiest two seasons. Trading for Johson may be a big risk because he could start going downhill quick. I don't know if it will start this year, but it could start next. Would you want the guy for only 1 or 2 productive years?

 

[Displaced Cowboy]

this doesn't surprise penn state fans.

there is a reason he didn't get the starting job until his senior year.

larry wants it his way but joepa didn't have any of it, even with larry sr. on the coaching staff.

 

[burmafrd]

416 carries is ridiculous. I think he is still young enough and has low enough mileage where that will probably not matter- but if it happens again....
remember what happened to Ricky Williams his first year with the Dolphins: had a monster year with a huge number of carries, the next year he was a shadow of that player. And then of course he fell in love with pot.

 

[ThreeSportStar80]

Larry Johnson is OK running back I don't think he's worth all that money.

 

[StanleySpadowski]

Even if LJ turns out to be the next George, Anderson or Wilder it may still not be a good thing. Each of those guys carried the ball over 400 times in a single season. They started going down hill quickly after that.

Eddie George was able to provide the Titans with a lot of carries after carrying it 403 times in 2000, but his average fell to 3.23 yards per carry after that season.

Jamal Anderson set the record at that time with 410 rushes in 1998 and then injured his leg the next season. He averaged 3.58 yards per carry in the 3 years after he topped 400 carries.

James Wilder set the record at that time with 407 rushes in 1984. He got 1300 yards with a 3.56 yards per carry average the next season, but then failed to reach more than 704 yards his remaining 5 seasons.

Eric Dickerson is the only one who topped 400 carries in a season and then continued playing at a high level for a few more seasons.

Larry Johson set the current record for most attempts in a season with 416 last year. He is averaging 27 rushing attempts a game since he became the main guy after Priest Holmes got injured. That is a tremendous amount of pounding. The most Emmitt got was just over 23 rushing attempts per game over his busiest two seasons. Trading for Johson may be a big risk because he could start going downhill quick. I don't know if it will start this year, but it could start next. Would you want the guy for only 1 or 2 productive years?

In fairness to full disclosure, I know Larry Johnson Sr. fairly well but don't think that it has any bearing on my opinion.

Johnson is still young and fresh, actually fresher than most due to his limited carries his first three years at Penn State.

You point to a guy like Wilder as going downhill quickly after receiving 400 carries but you neglect to point out that he only averaged 3.8 a carry the season he did, not much of a drop to 3.6. He was a mediocre back who unfortunately for Tampa was the best weapon they had on their woeful offensive team.

Anderson's injury could have happened whether he had 100 or 400 carries the previous season. Sometimes bad things happen to good people.

George in an interesting case but let's not pretend he was an elite runner before he had 400 carries and 3.2 again wasn't that big of a drop off. The big knock on him coming out of Ohio State was that he ran too upright and would take too many shots at the next level. That proved true over time.

And if you want to get technical, Emmit Smith actually had more carries in a season if you factor in playoff games than Johnson unless you believe that they hit a lot softer in the playoffs and those shouldn't count.

I wouldn't want Johnson because I believe that a combination like Dallas has now is the way to go when factoring in the salary cap but he is a horse that KC should hitch their wagon to.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Larry is far from the most popular player in the Chiefs’ locker room with the players. He’s aloof, moody and constantly distracted by his desire to be misunderstood and to be a member of Jay-Z’s posse.

“If they give him a huge contract, they’ll create a monster,” one Chiefs player told me this offseason. “And I told Herm that.”

Johnson, according to another teammate, can be a disruptive force in locker-room chemistry. The team’s most valuable and important player, according to a teammate, oftentimes sits in meetings text messaging friends and associates.

We all know Larry loves to make headlines with tell-all interviews. He went on HBO this season and claimed that it was easier for him to play for a black head coach because Herm Edwards knows what it’s like to, among other things, go to nightclubs in the ’hood.

But the reasons to consider trading L.J. go deeper than just the quirks in his personality, deeper than the possibility that he might be the next T.O. or Randy Moss.

There are more than enough red flags in this article alone to keep us from trading for him.

 

[Bleu Star]

Not sure I want LJ's personality on the team but he would tear it up in the Big D

We would need that thing called an Oline first before anyone tears anything up.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

somebody's actually a worse teammate than TO? who woulda thunk it?

 

[Hailmary]

Dallas hasn't found a single running back to do what LJ does, but Julius and Marion combined accomplished the same as Larry. I actually give Jones and Barber some extra credit because the Cowboys O-line is not as good as the Chiefs. KC would have a hard time replacing Johson with a single running back, but may they could get a couple of guys to give them good production.

Excellent points:

JJ & MB combined: 1738yds/ 4.45ypc/ 20tds
Larry Johnson : 1789yds/ 4.3ypc/ 19tds

The production is almost identical, but the keypoint is that if LJ goes down for a significant time, the Cheifs arwe screwed. If either JJ or MB goes down, it won't be nearly as crippling to the longterm success.

It took me some time to get used to the 2 back set, but at the rate players go down these days, it just seems smart to be deep at the position.

 

[Kevinicus]

LJ has had an awesome line in front of him the last two years.On our line he would be average.

The Chiefs line was far, far, far from awesome last year. They were average. The interior was solid, but they were/are very weak at the tackles. They will be even worse this year with Shields probably retiring.

Johnson won't get 1700 yds next year unless he has 450+ carries.

That said, Whitlock is a moron who only spews outlandish crap ideas that nobody in their right mind would listen to. Everything he says should be disregarded, no matter the topic. You should have seen how much he campaigned for Jeff George to be the QB there awhile back.

 

[RealCowboyfan]

I would trade a 1st round, Julius Jones, and Greg Ellis for LJ and a 4th Rounder.

 

[lane]

last time i checked....wade isn't black.

i have no time for racists.