Larry Johnson is a Kansas City outsider now, even if he does still say “we” when he’s referring to the Chiefs. He’s part of the past, even if he does want to someday return and break the team’s career rushing record.
Whether his release was what Johnson wanted or what he needed, that’s the way it is for the 29-year-old running back. And in his first public comments since a series of Twitter posts began a career-changing mess, Johnson told a syndicated radio show Tuesday that he didn’t want out of Kansas City — but that he thought it was time to move on.
“It just felt like it was just time,” Johnson said on the Dan Patrick Show. “I just felt like I gave Kansas City all that I had as far as being on the field and being upbeat. It was just time.”
Attempts by The Star to reach Johnson through his agent, Peter Schaffer, were unsuccessful. Johnson wasn’t claimed by another team Tuesday during the 24-hour window that NFL teams can pick up waived players. Because that window closed, the Chiefs are required to pay the remaining $2.1 million left on this year’s salary. Johnson can sign a free-agent deal with another team, which could be for as little as the pro-rated league minimum, in effect giving Johnson a raise for the rest of the 2009 season.
Johnson in part blamed the Kansas City media for further spreading that Johnson is a volatile man who’s not always in control of his words and actions, and he blamed a battered Chiefs offensive line, a revamped playbook and a young team for Kansas City’s — and his own — struggles this season. He said he wanted to win so badly that he sometimes lost control.
“It’s not anger issues. I think I have competitive issues,” he said. “Sometimes that gets the best of me, and I become overly competitive. Sometimes I lose myself in that and understanding that I don’t have to try to win every battle.
“It was that I was putting all that stress on myself because I wanted to put the team on my back and take them the whole distance. It wasn’t working out that way this season.”
Johnson praised Chiefs coach Todd Haley and general manager Scott Pioli, saying he respected what the men had done and were willing to do to change the course of one of the NFL’s struggling organizations.
“I am a big Todd Haley fan and a big Scott Pioli fan,” Johnson said. “Those guys came in and tried to change the organization and bring in players I thought I would never see.”
Johnson also explained that he lost control during a series of Oct. 25 posts on his Twitter profile. In the posts, Johnson disparaged Haley for having never played football, used a gay slur in reference to one of his followers’ profile picture, and insulted other followers for not being millionaires.
“At the time where we needed to stay together and a time where we needed to not have anybody say anything about anybody,” he said, “I kind of lost that perspective on it. I kind of got dragged into a conversation where we were talking more about coaches and talking about credibility and things of that nature. One guy says one thing, another guy says one thing, and you completely lose yourself. You make a mistake, and you say the wrong thing.
“One little thing I say, and it’s going to be blown up to you guys and the perception of me grows as far as I’m the worst person who’s ever put on cleats.”
To reach Kent Babb, Chiefs reporter for The Star, call 816-234-4386, send e-mail to kbabb@kcstar.com, or follow him at twitter.com/kb_kcstar
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