Pay The Man.
Ordinarily, I am on the side of ownership. You signed a deal, now play it out. There are 3 years left on a deal that the Titans signed with then rookie running back, Chris Johnson. Chris Johnson(now read, CJ2K) is the exception. Rookie year, he split carries and still broke 1200 yards. Sophomore year, he becomes the 6th player in NFL history to break the 2000 yard plateau. Can I ask, what’s next?
As Jerry Glanville said, the NFL stands for Not For Long. For NFL running backs, that mantra is absolutely true. They have the shortest average career of any position at 2.57 years. That means that going into his 3rd year, he is already above average. His numbers, though, are on another level. That’s why the Titans are completely in the wrong here.
They made the choice to get rid of Lendale White, and to make CJ2K the number 1 back. Great choice, but i’m sure the 500K that he is due in the 2010 is way below the average salary at his position, $957,360. LT leads the list, followed by, Edgerrin James. Edgerrin James? This isn’t 2004. I feel like playing the movie Rounders over and over, “Pay that man his money”.
So we’ll see how this all plays out. The holdout means nothing in May. As we get closer to July and August what will the Titans do then? They don’t dare turn the full time job over to Javon Ringer and Alvin Pearman, do they? Vince Young needs a strong running game to be successful. So does Jeff Fisher who is entering his 15th year as the head coach. He’s also the Executive VP, so this sort of lands at his feet too. Can he look CJ2K in the eye knowing that he’s not showing the full commitment to him that he asks in return? I think not! Remember, this is the NFL. Stands for Not For Long. Well, that’s about how long I expect this holdout to last. Not for long.
So far 1200+ people agree. Just check his online petition for yourself: PAY CJ2K
