L.J. Still Wants Out
When the Chiefs wrapped up the disastrous 2008 season with one final defeat at Cincinnati more than a month ago, Larry Johnson went out of his way to make sure everybody knew one thing: he wanted out of Kansas City.
Some 40 days after those pronouncements, L.J. wanted to make sure everybody understood he really meant what he said. Speaking on KCSP-AM on Wednesday morning for about 20 minutes, Johnson had plenty to say.
If you want to listen to the whole interview, you can go here.
Here are the highlights:
ON HIS FEELINGS ABOUT KANSAS CITY: “Kansas City as far a community and a city is not really a fit for me anymore. It’s got nothing to do with the team or the teammates. That’s not where the problem lies. The problem is the environment. As soon as I came in as a rookie, the environment and the things that went on, it’s just not a fit for me. As far as the organization, the guys who put on the suits, they can tell it’s not a fit for me. No sense delaying the inevitable. It’s time for us to break ties, they can go on and find what they want, and I can try to go on and rebuild my career and find what I want.”
ON A DIFFICULTY OF A TRADE: “If the two parties want to come out and make something happen, there’s the ability to do that … they can easily release me. They can easily trade me. There are things that can be done under their control that they should be willing to do, no complaints about it.”
WHERE THE PROBLEMS WERE WITH THE CHIEFS: “The problem wasn’t with the players and the coaching staff, it was basically the organization. They tried to trade me ever since I came here. Even when Dick Vermeil was coach they tried to trade me to Tampa Bay … like all businesses, there’s a certain kind of code of ethics on how to do things and ever since I came here to Kansas City, they’ve been trying to push me out the door, they’ve been trying to trade me ever since I got there.”
WAS CARL PETERSON THE PROBLEM FOR HIM? “It’s more than Carl Peterson. Carl Peterson wasn’t really the problem. Carl Peterson isn’t the one running that whole ship. Carl Peterson was the one who drafted me and he knew what I was capable of doing on the field. There are more officers in that building that adds on to the effect of me not being in Kansas City. Carl Peterson wasn’t the only one.”
WAS HE MISUNDERSTOOD BY THE COMMUNITY? “I hate when people use that term, I’m misunderstood. That has nothing to do with it. You see a little bit of me, you don’t really know the real me. The things people are saying about are totally in contrast to the way I really am. My reputation since I got to Kansas City has been I’m not a good guy, I’ve never been a good guy. Even one of the suits in the organization told my father and told a guy that I know that I walk around like a rapper. They are worried about everything else but football and the way I am. To me that makes no sense. It’s not me being misunderstood. They aren’t trying to understand.”
ON WHETHER HE’S COMMUNICATED WITH NEW GM SCOTT PIOLI: “No.”
ON WHETHER HE HAS PLANS TO CALL PIOLI: “No.”
We’ll add our thoughts about what L.J. had to say in the next 24 hours or so.
Hmmm way it sounds is, everyone must adjust to him and not him being able to adjust to people or changing situations. How is he going to get traded or released as he wants if he doesn’t talk to the organization? Seems moronic to me. It seems he got a big contract a couple of years ago. Doesn’t that make him a representative of that organization? I gave him the benefit of the doubt till now. Send him packing Scott
Hearing LJ say those things today makes me wish that he is forced to stay…only if Haley is hired as head coach. Haley has a way of dealing with primadonna cry-babies that squeezes the best out of them…I’d like to see if he can do what no Chiefs coach has been able to do since he got here and Vermeil pointed out ever so correctly in 2004, and that is get Larry to take the diapers off.
we can’t just trade him for nothing and larry’s got to realize that. what he should do is shut up and earn his fat paycheck like a real pro would.
What the heck is going on with this site? It seems to be going down a lot & difficult to post.
Get rid of him…whatever it takes. Send him to Dallas, maybe. He’d fit right in there.
“My reputation since I got to Kansas City has been I’m not a good guy, I’ve never been a good guy.”
And so, Larry…whose fault is that exactly? The “suits” in the front office? The press, maybe? Lol! This dude sure is a piece of work, sometimes.
Larry has always placed the blame somewhere, except where he needs to place it…on himself.
I always remember Vermeil’s “diaper” comment. He was right on. Thing is…LJ STILL hasn’t taken it off.
Will beinteresting to see if Pioli deactivates him and refuses to pay him for conduct detrimental to the team.
I can’t see Pioli keeping LJ. He has said many times, it isn’t the BEST 53 guys, it’s the RIGHT 53 guys. LJ never WAS the right guy and I don’t think he ever WILL BE the right guy…
LJ sounds like somebody who has never had to take responsibility for the after effects of his behavior. Dick Vermeil was right!
Based on Pioli’s press conference statements and my impression of the NE way of doing things, LJ may be the worst possible fit imaginable.
To hell with this guy. He wanted to take as much money as he could from the organization, and I bet he sure isn’t willing to give any back. I sure hope that the team is able to take back a bunch of his signing bonus because of his legal troubles. Would serve him right.
He can rot on the bench. Keep him deactivated. We can play with 52. If he wants out, then he can buy his way out.
Oh, and his legal troubles are not over. Let’s wait and see what happens in his assault cases, then it may not even be an issue.
What a scumbag.
This is a good opportunity to clean house. Shed these guys like dandruff.
LJ and TG both need to go. They are cancerous. This team is getting a clean start and getting rid of those two would be a good place to begin.
Put LJ on the practice squad and let him rot. Maybe that will fit him. What a Scum Bag
LJ has never understood the concept of the term, TEAM. Never will and this is a team sport.
(Sort to an old public service TV spot):
This is your team.
This is your team with LJ (Or T.O.)
I hope that Pioli finds a way to let LJ go. I hope he does not let Tony go however. This team needs Tony. Maybe Tony is not feeling that way right now and Pioli is not going to let one guy (no matter who it is) become more important than the team but this team still does need Tony!
Hey LJ, actions speak louder than words!! When you try to punk out a woman because she doesn’t have the time of day for you, it speaks volumes about what you really are. As T.O. once said, “if it looks like a rat, and smells like a rat, it must be a rat”.
The quicker Pioli can get rid of you, the better, as far as I’m concerned. I don’t know how they do it on the East Coast (not saying they do) but we don’t look too highly of women beaters and thugs here in KC.
I’d love to see us keep Tony G. We need that veteran leadership he can provide, but if he leaves looking for that championship ring, I don’t blame him. Best of luck!
More than likely Tony will be back next year because he wants to be here if the team is going to be a playoff team next year. And with all the losing we’ve had in the past, Pioli as GM, and a weak division we will be. AS for LJ I don’t know about him. At first I thought he was upset like E. James for the Cardinals because of his lack of involvement in the offense but now its like he has a grudge against the franchise. IF thats true then we just need to get rid of the guy.
[...] If you missed the interview, go here for details. [...]
He wanted the money. He took the money to do a job to the best of his ability. If he wants out, he can buy his way out to the point that trading him won’t impact our cap like it would now.
Release LJ, and sign Sproles and Edgerrin James or Ward from the Giants.
Release all our linebackers, draft a linebacker in the 1st round and somehow get Peppers from Carolina and Vilma from the Saints or any of the Ravens free agents.
Let him go! A whining, no running, woman beating thug with money extorted out of the Chiefs a few years back is not needed here. Afraid to come out of the house? I looks more like he was afraid to run between the BLOCKS on the O-line!! Hit the pile & fall down. LJ’s done. Who needs this baby crap!!
The tone of the posters here is Exactly what LJ is talking about. KC was poisened against him from day 1 beause Vermeil publically stated he didn’t want him, and acted like a baby who didn’t get his way when Carl rightly drafted him, by burying LJ 3rd string. It was Vermiel who needed to take the diapers off, not LJ. To hs credit, after he left, DV admitted he badly mishandled LJ early in his career. This is no defense of LJ’s off the field activities. The Chiefs would be far better off keeping and using LJ than trading him for nothing, or worse, releasing him. He’s still, BY FAR, the best RB here, and one of the better ones in the NFL. He needs to sit down with Pioli and the new HC and get on the same page, and he seems willing to do that.
LJ = CANCER
heard from Rin Tin Tin. He wanted me to pass on a little message.
Herm is still the man, and so is his sidekick LJ!
ROFLMAO
Where have you been findthevet? You are a little late with that lame post!