Crashride
08-22-2007, 06:19 PM
Q&A with LARRY JOHNSON - 8/22
Aug 22, 2007, 6:23:52 PM
VIDEO: FLASH | Windows | Real | Audio
Q: How happy are you to have your new contract finished?
JOHNSON: “It felt really good to get it done. I was kind of worried that it wasn’t going to get done before the opening game. We had so many back-and-forth things, but it was still good enough to where we came to agreement about a lot of things that I didn’t think we would get ironed out. I’m glad it was done because sitting there watch everyone else in the preseason games, I was feeling kind of lonely out in Arizona. (Browns QB) Brady Quinn was like my little tag-team partner and as soon as he left I was like, ‘I hope I’m the next guy to go.’ We were training together and having so much fun out there, but it feels good to be back.”
Q: At any time did you think it wouldn’t get done?
JOHNSON: “No I never thought that. I was kind of disappointed as far as going into camp. I really wanted to be in camp because this was the first time I was going into camp as a really true leader of this team. When things didn’t work that way I was disappointed, but I never thought that we couldn’t get this deal done. I thought that there was a lot on the table for both sides to negotiate and they did a good job of getting it done.”
Q: What does the financial investment the organization made in you say about the Chiefs commitment in you?
JOHNSON: “It’s big and it gives you a lot of responsibility, no matter if you want it or don’t want it. Any time they make you the highest-paid player in franchise history you have to own up to it not only on the football field, but also in the community and off the football field. Those are the type of things you have to live with being the top-paid guy and having those responsibilities.”
Q: When did you realize that you wanted to get this done quickly?
JOHNSON: “It was difficult because I was training at API (Athletes Performance Institute) in Arizona. I wasn’t even supposed to be in Kansas City. I came to Kansas City to change clothes because I had been in Arizona for two weeks. I came home Sunday and I was pacing all through the house. I was like, ‘should I go up there (to Arrowhead), should I call, should I not call.’ I made the phone call to Herm (Edwards) and talked to him for a little bit. Then Carl (Peterson) called me and said we should meet. We met in a lounge and I was hoping we could have gotten it done that night, but things were optimistic. I was thinking we could get the deal done in the next two or three days and then it happened the next day after. I was grateful for that.”
Q: You often play with a chip on your shoulder, so now that you have this new contract, where will your motivation come from?
JOHNSON: “My motivation has never been financial. My motivation has always been the best. When I was young, every summer I never got to do what all the other kids my age were doing. My father sat me down and I was watching tape of Bronko Nagurski, Red Grange, Steve Van Buren, Ollie Matson, Paul Lowe, Jim Brown and Walter Payton. Those were the guys I watched when I was younger. That chip always comes from trying to be like those guys. It was never Jim Brown made such and such money or Chuck Foreman made such and such money. It was never about money when I play football, it was always that I wanted to be mentioned in the same breath as Jim Brown and Earl Campbell. That’s where my chip comes from, it’s never been geared toward money. I always joked about this, but Steve Sabol is like my second father because that’s who I learned the game from. That’s where I learned to keep pushing and be like those guys. NFL Hard Knocks is here, but when they play that music with all the highlights, you get excited. You always want to play then. It was never like ‘okay if you play this amount, you’re going to get this many dollar signs and be the highest paid ever.’ That wasn’t one of my goals. It’s always been to try to be the best at my position.”
Q: If it’s not about money then why did you hold out?
JOHNSON: “It’s about family. When you have the ability and the opportunity to be the top earner for not only your immediate family – but also your generation – you have to take that chance. It’s not like the money is all for me and I’m going to spend it all on me.”
Q: Was holding out the only thing you could have done?
JOHNSON: “None of the talks where going on around April or May or June. The last thing I wasnted to do was hold out. That was something when I was talking to Jim Brown a week ago, he said, ‘that’s something I hate to see happen is some one holdout.’ But at that time I had no other choice, I had to be heard and taken more seriously rather than just be somebody who was going to play out a contract and if I got hurt, then what would I do now. I would try to work a nine-to-five and possibly never know what shape my body is going to be in six years from now. Will I be like Earl Campbell or will I be able to walk like Lenny Moore. You can never gauge that.”
Q: What are your concerns in regards to getting 416 carries last year?
JOHNSON: “I really don’t have any concerns because I’m different from the other backs that touched it 400 times. Those guys were four-year starters in college and they were probably four-year starters in high school and they came into the league and they were already touching the football a lot. Me, I’m a different case because I only played one full year in college before I got drafted and I’ve only played one full year now. So if you take those carries and spread them out over the years I’ve been in KC it kind of evens out to 200 or 300 touches a season. People think I take a lot of punishment, but it’s not necessarily true. When you’re dishing it out most of the time, trust me in the fourth quarter I’m not taking as much punishment as people see. It looks brutal on TV, but it’s never as bad as it seems.”
Q: Will two weeks be enough time to get ready for the regular season?
JOHNSON: “It will take a little longer than that. Obviously Coach is going to do a great job of getting me on track to where in Week Two or Week Three of the season I’m going to hit my full stride. I’m going to try to pick it up as fast as I can because what I know about myself is that I’ve never been a fast starter coming out of the blocks in a season. It’s always been the last eight games is when I really turn it on. Obviously I’m going to push myself as hard as I can to kind of even it out.”
Q: Do you think you’ll be ready for a full role in that Season Opener at Houston (9/9)?
JOHNSON: “I’d be lying to myself, but it all depends on how I’m feeling. Of course when your adrenaline takes over and you’re excited about playing we’ll see. It all depends what type of game we get into.”
Q: How do balance out missing training camp with the positive aspect of keeping your legs fresher from not going through training camp?
JOHNSON: “When you’re in camp during two-a-days a lot of guys don’t want to touch those weights because they’re dead tired and you’re sore. But being away from camp, I trained twice a day and I was training my legs and upper body. I was getting more strength in my conditioning rather than just the football conditioning. It will come in due time, it’s just all about getting back and being comfortable with the situation. My legs are fresh as can be and it will all help me when it comes to the last eight weeks of the season.”
Q: When you arrived at practice yesterday your started chanting your name and were giving you hugs. What did that mean to you?
JOHNSON: “It meant a lot to me. Those guys have been so instrumental as far as me being away from camp and how much they missed me and how much they wanted me back. You kind of keep that in mind when you’re doing this deal because you know you want to get back to be with your teammates. I get a kick out of talking to Chris Terry or Tony Gonzalez or Eddie Kennison. Being able to line up with those guys on an every day basis – joking and laughing – it really adds to the camaraderie as far as what we’re trying to make this team in the future.
Q: Is that something you missed?
JOHNSON: “It’s definitely something I missed. I could train with Brady Quinn for three of four months, but it doesn’t add up to hanging out with Brian Waters or joking around with the rookies like Kolby (Smith) or Dwayne (Bowe). That’s what I get the most fun out of is being around the young guys.”
Q: Did you ever think this day would come that you’d be getting recognized at this level?
JOHNSON: “It was something that I always worked towards. Nobody goes in saying, ‘I wish I was the highest-paid player ever.’ Nobody goes into playing football that way and if you do then you’re in it for different reasons other than the love of the game. I always wanted to try to be the best at what I could do. When I came here (as a rookie) Priest (Holmes) had the position and my whole thing was to not hold out of camp. It was to get into camp and try to help him prolong his career as much as possible. That was my mindset and it’s still my mindset as far as him coming back. He’s given a lot of guys that are 29 and 30 year-old running backs hope to come back and still be able to put on the pads and hopefully get back out there and play some of these games.”
Q: Is there any animosity between you and Priest Holmes? Can you co-exist?
JOHNSON: “We can co-exist. His locker is right next to mine. It’s not like it’s down the street so I can be like ‘I don’t have to talk to Priest.’ His locker is literally right next to me. So we co-exist. We’ve been able to do it for two or three years when he was here. With him coming back, the first time I saw him I talked to him and we sat and had a conversation like we hadn’t missed a beat. There isn’t any animosity like it’s me vs. you. It’s more like ‘welcome back and let’s keep the ball rolling and get to the Super Bowl’.”
Q: How important was your relationship with Carl Peterson in getting this deal done?
JOHNSON: “It’s hard to be a friend and do business with a friend. You kind of try to separate the two, but you’d really like to have them close enough together where you have a good enough friendship and you have a good enough business sense where you can try to get the thing done and put all egos aside. That’s what’s great about what Carl and I have. Not many guys can have that relationship where you can sit down and talk and it’s not always about football. You can go and have dinners and lunch with your GM or owners and never talk about football. Not too many guys in the NFL can have that relationship. I’ve been lucky enough when Carl drafted me that he was the only GM that came out to my pro day and we kind of hit it off. Then I was able to meet Lamar Hunt and I’ve become great friends with his sons. I’m blessed to be in that situation because some guys don’t even talk to their GMs. They might be the highest-paid players ever, but they don’t have that relationship like I do.”
Q: Does this come with more leadership expectations for you?
JOHNSON: “I am going to be more of a vocal leader and more of a voice of what is going on with this offense, what is going on with this team and what we can expect in the future. I have to watch what I say. I try to be as honest and as real as I can be when I talk to the media, but that has bitten me in the butt a couple times. I just have to watch what I say and know that I don’t only speak for myself, but I speak for this organization and for my teammates.”
Aug 22, 2007, 6:23:52 PM
VIDEO: FLASH | Windows | Real | Audio
Q: How happy are you to have your new contract finished?
JOHNSON: “It felt really good to get it done. I was kind of worried that it wasn’t going to get done before the opening game. We had so many back-and-forth things, but it was still good enough to where we came to agreement about a lot of things that I didn’t think we would get ironed out. I’m glad it was done because sitting there watch everyone else in the preseason games, I was feeling kind of lonely out in Arizona. (Browns QB) Brady Quinn was like my little tag-team partner and as soon as he left I was like, ‘I hope I’m the next guy to go.’ We were training together and having so much fun out there, but it feels good to be back.”
Q: At any time did you think it wouldn’t get done?
JOHNSON: “No I never thought that. I was kind of disappointed as far as going into camp. I really wanted to be in camp because this was the first time I was going into camp as a really true leader of this team. When things didn’t work that way I was disappointed, but I never thought that we couldn’t get this deal done. I thought that there was a lot on the table for both sides to negotiate and they did a good job of getting it done.”
Q: What does the financial investment the organization made in you say about the Chiefs commitment in you?
JOHNSON: “It’s big and it gives you a lot of responsibility, no matter if you want it or don’t want it. Any time they make you the highest-paid player in franchise history you have to own up to it not only on the football field, but also in the community and off the football field. Those are the type of things you have to live with being the top-paid guy and having those responsibilities.”
Q: When did you realize that you wanted to get this done quickly?
JOHNSON: “It was difficult because I was training at API (Athletes Performance Institute) in Arizona. I wasn’t even supposed to be in Kansas City. I came to Kansas City to change clothes because I had been in Arizona for two weeks. I came home Sunday and I was pacing all through the house. I was like, ‘should I go up there (to Arrowhead), should I call, should I not call.’ I made the phone call to Herm (Edwards) and talked to him for a little bit. Then Carl (Peterson) called me and said we should meet. We met in a lounge and I was hoping we could have gotten it done that night, but things were optimistic. I was thinking we could get the deal done in the next two or three days and then it happened the next day after. I was grateful for that.”
Q: You often play with a chip on your shoulder, so now that you have this new contract, where will your motivation come from?
JOHNSON: “My motivation has never been financial. My motivation has always been the best. When I was young, every summer I never got to do what all the other kids my age were doing. My father sat me down and I was watching tape of Bronko Nagurski, Red Grange, Steve Van Buren, Ollie Matson, Paul Lowe, Jim Brown and Walter Payton. Those were the guys I watched when I was younger. That chip always comes from trying to be like those guys. It was never Jim Brown made such and such money or Chuck Foreman made such and such money. It was never about money when I play football, it was always that I wanted to be mentioned in the same breath as Jim Brown and Earl Campbell. That’s where my chip comes from, it’s never been geared toward money. I always joked about this, but Steve Sabol is like my second father because that’s who I learned the game from. That’s where I learned to keep pushing and be like those guys. NFL Hard Knocks is here, but when they play that music with all the highlights, you get excited. You always want to play then. It was never like ‘okay if you play this amount, you’re going to get this many dollar signs and be the highest paid ever.’ That wasn’t one of my goals. It’s always been to try to be the best at my position.”
Q: If it’s not about money then why did you hold out?
JOHNSON: “It’s about family. When you have the ability and the opportunity to be the top earner for not only your immediate family – but also your generation – you have to take that chance. It’s not like the money is all for me and I’m going to spend it all on me.”
Q: Was holding out the only thing you could have done?
JOHNSON: “None of the talks where going on around April or May or June. The last thing I wasnted to do was hold out. That was something when I was talking to Jim Brown a week ago, he said, ‘that’s something I hate to see happen is some one holdout.’ But at that time I had no other choice, I had to be heard and taken more seriously rather than just be somebody who was going to play out a contract and if I got hurt, then what would I do now. I would try to work a nine-to-five and possibly never know what shape my body is going to be in six years from now. Will I be like Earl Campbell or will I be able to walk like Lenny Moore. You can never gauge that.”
Q: What are your concerns in regards to getting 416 carries last year?
JOHNSON: “I really don’t have any concerns because I’m different from the other backs that touched it 400 times. Those guys were four-year starters in college and they were probably four-year starters in high school and they came into the league and they were already touching the football a lot. Me, I’m a different case because I only played one full year in college before I got drafted and I’ve only played one full year now. So if you take those carries and spread them out over the years I’ve been in KC it kind of evens out to 200 or 300 touches a season. People think I take a lot of punishment, but it’s not necessarily true. When you’re dishing it out most of the time, trust me in the fourth quarter I’m not taking as much punishment as people see. It looks brutal on TV, but it’s never as bad as it seems.”
Q: Will two weeks be enough time to get ready for the regular season?
JOHNSON: “It will take a little longer than that. Obviously Coach is going to do a great job of getting me on track to where in Week Two or Week Three of the season I’m going to hit my full stride. I’m going to try to pick it up as fast as I can because what I know about myself is that I’ve never been a fast starter coming out of the blocks in a season. It’s always been the last eight games is when I really turn it on. Obviously I’m going to push myself as hard as I can to kind of even it out.”
Q: Do you think you’ll be ready for a full role in that Season Opener at Houston (9/9)?
JOHNSON: “I’d be lying to myself, but it all depends on how I’m feeling. Of course when your adrenaline takes over and you’re excited about playing we’ll see. It all depends what type of game we get into.”
Q: How do balance out missing training camp with the positive aspect of keeping your legs fresher from not going through training camp?
JOHNSON: “When you’re in camp during two-a-days a lot of guys don’t want to touch those weights because they’re dead tired and you’re sore. But being away from camp, I trained twice a day and I was training my legs and upper body. I was getting more strength in my conditioning rather than just the football conditioning. It will come in due time, it’s just all about getting back and being comfortable with the situation. My legs are fresh as can be and it will all help me when it comes to the last eight weeks of the season.”
Q: When you arrived at practice yesterday your started chanting your name and were giving you hugs. What did that mean to you?
JOHNSON: “It meant a lot to me. Those guys have been so instrumental as far as me being away from camp and how much they missed me and how much they wanted me back. You kind of keep that in mind when you’re doing this deal because you know you want to get back to be with your teammates. I get a kick out of talking to Chris Terry or Tony Gonzalez or Eddie Kennison. Being able to line up with those guys on an every day basis – joking and laughing – it really adds to the camaraderie as far as what we’re trying to make this team in the future.
Q: Is that something you missed?
JOHNSON: “It’s definitely something I missed. I could train with Brady Quinn for three of four months, but it doesn’t add up to hanging out with Brian Waters or joking around with the rookies like Kolby (Smith) or Dwayne (Bowe). That’s what I get the most fun out of is being around the young guys.”
Q: Did you ever think this day would come that you’d be getting recognized at this level?
JOHNSON: “It was something that I always worked towards. Nobody goes in saying, ‘I wish I was the highest-paid player ever.’ Nobody goes into playing football that way and if you do then you’re in it for different reasons other than the love of the game. I always wanted to try to be the best at what I could do. When I came here (as a rookie) Priest (Holmes) had the position and my whole thing was to not hold out of camp. It was to get into camp and try to help him prolong his career as much as possible. That was my mindset and it’s still my mindset as far as him coming back. He’s given a lot of guys that are 29 and 30 year-old running backs hope to come back and still be able to put on the pads and hopefully get back out there and play some of these games.”
Q: Is there any animosity between you and Priest Holmes? Can you co-exist?
JOHNSON: “We can co-exist. His locker is right next to mine. It’s not like it’s down the street so I can be like ‘I don’t have to talk to Priest.’ His locker is literally right next to me. So we co-exist. We’ve been able to do it for two or three years when he was here. With him coming back, the first time I saw him I talked to him and we sat and had a conversation like we hadn’t missed a beat. There isn’t any animosity like it’s me vs. you. It’s more like ‘welcome back and let’s keep the ball rolling and get to the Super Bowl’.”
Q: How important was your relationship with Carl Peterson in getting this deal done?
JOHNSON: “It’s hard to be a friend and do business with a friend. You kind of try to separate the two, but you’d really like to have them close enough together where you have a good enough friendship and you have a good enough business sense where you can try to get the thing done and put all egos aside. That’s what’s great about what Carl and I have. Not many guys can have that relationship where you can sit down and talk and it’s not always about football. You can go and have dinners and lunch with your GM or owners and never talk about football. Not too many guys in the NFL can have that relationship. I’ve been lucky enough when Carl drafted me that he was the only GM that came out to my pro day and we kind of hit it off. Then I was able to meet Lamar Hunt and I’ve become great friends with his sons. I’m blessed to be in that situation because some guys don’t even talk to their GMs. They might be the highest-paid players ever, but they don’t have that relationship like I do.”
Q: Does this come with more leadership expectations for you?
JOHNSON: “I am going to be more of a vocal leader and more of a voice of what is going on with this offense, what is going on with this team and what we can expect in the future. I have to watch what I say. I try to be as honest and as real as I can be when I talk to the media, but that has bitten me in the butt a couple times. I just have to watch what I say and know that I don’t only speak for myself, but I speak for this organization and for my teammates.”