Chris Johnson?

[cstjohn17]

Three cheers for another "Let's sign this guy thread!"

Johnson has had an amazing career, he may be slowing down but has proven to be incredibly production and durable.

Both he and the Patriots would benefit from a signing.

He may get priced out but they should at least kick the tires.

Benefits for Patriots:

• Add a game changer, teams must plan for him
• Provides even more balance
• Take pressure off Brady

Benefits for Johnson

• Will face a consistent light box
• Play for championship
• Not focal point of offense (extend career)

Averages for career (per season)
16 Games
290 Carries
1328 Yards
84 Yards per game
4.5 Yard per carry
8 TDs
45 Receptions
334 Receiving Yards

Basically 1600 Totals yards and 10 TDs per season.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

already have a johnson thread

 

[deters]

CJ2K as the #1 RB with the holes the pats OL can make = :woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:

Having CJ and Vereen on third down would be beast.

 

[JMC00]

Jets will offer more than the Pats will.

 

[primetime]

If he wasn't offering basically the same package that Shane Vereen already is at a fraction of the price that Johnson will command, sure. As it stands, the Patriots just need a late round or free agent rookie.

 

[Brady6]

Chris Johnson is basically the same age as Blount, so I don't think he is slowing down I think he is unmotivated in Tennessee. I would sign him in a heartbeat but I'm not sure what type of money he is looking for, if he is willing to sacrifice some money for a chance at a ring he can sign on the line. If he is looking for a payday he can enjoy his time in the meadowlands.

 

[hwc]

I've seen absolutely zero indication that Bill Belichick is interested in bidding for high dollar free agent running backs.

 

[patsinthesnow]

Even if CJ is slowing down, he'd still be a heck of a 3rd down/change of pace RB. Ridley can handle the majority of the carries anyway.

CJ + Vereen in the backfield would cause alot of problems for defenses.

Money wise, I hope BB was lowballing all the RBs to wait for CJ. Considering he's turning 29 and Tate only got 3.2 million a year, CJ will be humbled on the open market IMO. I hope he would take 2.5-3 million from us rather than a little more to be a greenbean.

 

[strngplyr]

Chris Johnson has made more money than nearly every running back in NFL history, save for a select few.

6.3m in 2011
11.3m in 2012
12m in 2013
+ his rookie contact for 2008-10

Maybe he's refusing to take a paycut to force TEN's hand to play for a winner.

Maybe not.

He's playing behind an awful line recently with no quarterback play basically his entire career. He'd probably be a 1200-1500 yard back here given the chance, I believe with a back capable of carrying the ball 250 times we'd give the back the ball 250 times (Ridley in 2012, Dillon), BB isn't against it, those backs are just rare.

If he'd take 2.5-3m I'd be for it, no commitment though, one year deal, incentive laden. I don't think He'd accept the deal, but RB's simply aren't worth a boatload of money.

 

[Jangles]

I thought our offense required an ounce of intelligence.

I've taken dumps that were smarter than Mr. Gold Teefus

 

[primetime]

It's not that he's slowing down (though he is), it's that he's absolutely terrified of contact. He goes down the second he's touched, and doesn't make people miss anymore either. He had 21 broken tackles last year on 279 carries. Pierre Thomas and Donald Brown had the same number of broken tackles on about half the carries.

He'll be 29 in September and already has 1750 career carries (over 2000 touches) - Brady6's comparison to Blount, who's over a year younger and has under a third of the career carries (and a quarter of the touches), doesn't work at all.

No one who watched more than a game or two of Chris Johnson in the last few seasons would want to touch him with a ten foot pole.

 

[MassPats38]

I believe Major League states it appropriately

Lou Brown: I thought you said we didn't have any high priced talent.
Charlie Donovan: Forget about Dorn, he's just high priced.

CJ2K was 5 years ago. Since then, a steady decline from an awesome 5.6 YPC in 2009 to 3.9 YPC last year. To his credit, he doesn't miss games. Not to his credit, it appears his reasons for declining are everybody else (mostly the offensive line, which was not great last year). Critiquing everybody but yourself does not smack of desire to win.

The Pats sign veterans who want to win. Having a guy at 29 with lots of wear on the tires coming off knee surgery say he is willing to take a pay cut from the second-highest salary in the NFL to facilitate a trade does not suggest a win first player. He would be intriguing at a few million. At $6 or $8 million? Pass. He may just fall of the Shaun Alexander cliff this year, so prepare to pity the team that pays him well for a few years (unless it's the Jets, because that's just entertaining).

 

[Deus Irae]

Chris Johnson’s plan with Titans: Meet with Ruston Webster, take physical, get released. May fail physical for knee cleanup, fine long-term

https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/452085739543461888

 

[JMC00]

I believe Major League states it appropriately

Lou Brown: I thought you said we didn't have any high priced talent.
Charlie Donovan: Forget about Dorn, he's just high priced.

CJ2K was 5 years ago. Since then, a steady decline from an awesome 5.6 YPC in 2009 to 3.9 YPC last year. To his credit, he doesn't miss games. Not to his credit, it appears his reasons for declining are everybody else (mostly the offensive line, which was not great last year). Critiquing everybody but yourself does not smack of desire to win.

The Pats sign veterans who want to win. Having a guy at 29 with lots of wear on the tires coming off knee surgery say he is willing to take a pay cut from the second-highest salary in the NFL to facilitate a trade does not suggest a win first player. He would be intriguing at a few million. At $6 or $8 million? Pass. He may just fall of the Shaun Alexander cliff this year, so prepare to pity the team that pays him well for a few years (unless it's the Jets, because that's just entertaining).

He may still run somewhat like Hayes but he hits the holes like s***

 

[Ring 6]

I think Chris Johnson would be ideal for the spread offense one back shotgun role that we use often, and run a lot of draw vs light fronts.
No doubt he would pop some big runs, and he is a capable receiver.
However, we already have Vereen in that role, so I can't see us being interested in CJ. Definitely not as a rotational lead back, the skillset just doesn't fit.

 

[Deus Irae]

I'm just curious....

How many of you who are bashing Johnson know that he played most of last season with a cartilage tear in his knee?

 

[dales804]

I think the guy is worth a look. Money's obviously a factor. I wonder how much he will look to get versus what will be offered to him.

I can envision Johnson being successful in NE's offense.

 

[JMC00]

I'm just curious....

How many of you who are bashing Johnson know that he played most of last season with a cartilage tear in his knee?

My bashing was just a "Major League" joke. I'm all for them signing him. Because the fact is if you are a decent to good running back there is a good chance you can thrive in the Pats system.

 

[Deus Irae]

My bashing was just a "Major League" joke. I'm all for them signing him. Because the fact is if you are a decent to good running back there is a good chance you can thrive in the Pats system.

I wasn't singling anyone out. I was genuinely curious, because I wondered if opinions would change with the knowledge of his injury.

 

[cstjohn17]

I think Chris Johnson would be ideal for the spread offense one back shotgun role that we use often, and run a lot of draw vs light fronts.
No doubt he would pop some big runs, and he is a capable receiver.
However, we already have Vereen in that role, so I can't see us being interested in CJ. Definitely not as a rotational lead back, the skillset just doesn't fit.

If CJ came here he would be the lead back playing in most situations. I think of him as a much more talented, durable productive version of Vereen. Vereen is an ok complimentary player with a complete inability to stay on the field. CJ could take most of the load and be spotted from time to time with Ridley or Vereen.