My Chris Johnson Blog

If you were going to make a bet on the Titans but were worried about the position of running back Chris Johnson, you can relax.

The NFL's leading rusher will be in camp as the Tennessee Titans and Johnson came to an agreement that will take care of his position for the upcoming football season. Johnson headed the league last year in rushing and he is a competitor that makes a big difference in any game.

Odds on Tennessee post them as 28-1 dark horse prospects to win next year's Super Bowl. Without Johnson those odds would be 40-1 or even worse. The Tennessee Titans can not afford to be without him, since he is one of the best players in the league. The Tennessee Titans are planning to increase Johnson's contract for this season without completely renegotiating the contract. Johnson would have made only about $500,000 this season according to his original deal, but with the new arrangement he will get about $2 million. Johnson was considering holding out if anything was not done with his contract and the Tennessee Titans did not have any other option but to do something. League stats showed that Johnson made an NFL single-season record last season for the most yards obtained from scrimmage.

In the meantime, this compromise deal was sufficient to get him to training camp, though Johnson is still hoping to get a new, better deal worked out with the Tennessee Titans. The alteration in Johnson's current deal is in fact very simple as the squad is paying him $1.5 million in terms of incentive bonuses in 2010 instead of in 2012. Johnson is not worried about 2012, however, since he can expect to have a new package in place long before then.

Johnson was selected to the Pro Bowl as a starter in both of the years that he has played with the NFL and has become one of the NFL's top players. In fact, he broke Marshall Faulk's record of total yards from scrimmage and became the 6th running back in NFL history to rush over 2,000 yards in his second year with the NFL. After he recorded the second fastest ever record for a running back at the NFL Scouting Combine, he was a 24th total draft pick in the 2008 NFL Draft. In 2009, he was named the NFL's Offensive Player of the Year.

Tennessee was a great squad in the football season only 2 years ago, but last year they began with a lackluster 0-6 record. They turned things around during the season and went 8-2 the rest of the way but still failed to qualify for the playoffs. Vince Young played well at quarterback and Johnson ripped through opposing defenses. Optimism in Tennessee is high again with Johnson ready to go with a deal for this season. Whether or not Young can keep his head screwed on straight is always a problem, but the Tennessee Titans can at least rest assured that Johnson will be carrying the offensive load in 2010. Tennessee could be worth a look now that the situation relating to Johnson has been sorted out, at least for now.