I understand that Larry isn’t worth that much to other teams (trade value). But when a players trade value is significantly lower than his value on our field, we need to keep him.

Anything less than an third and we will get more out of running him into the ground.

I do think that Arizona is probably the most likely destination for Larry Johnson if he is tradeable. The Cardinals are in a desperate state for their running game, and if they can’t find a good RB via the draft they’ll probably want to add one (since they likely see themselves as in a narrowing championship window after re-signing Kurt Warner). But I don’t see them giving up a 2009 draft pick for him…if anything I see them waiting until after the draft, and maybe looking at a conditional 2010 pick (based on Johnson’s production).

If we don’t get much interest after the draft, however, I figure the Chiefs will just dump him and be done with it. And I suspect that most teams know this and so his trade value is pretty much zero.

Especially ones with off the field issues. They’re just not valuable anymore.

Herm broke him by overuse. Not intentionally, of course, but it was utterly stupid to give Johnson a huge contract in 2007 when nobody thought the Chiefs were really a championship team a) until Johnson had demonstrated that he had no ill-effects from the 2006 season (which we now know wasn’t going to happen) and b) while they still had Johnson under such a market-friendly contract for several years (which meant he was still good trade bait even after 2006 because he was making a relative pittance).

I’ll say it…Carl Peterson was an idiot for paying him that contract. But then anyone who followed Peterson’s history of contracts over the years shouldn’t really have been surprised.

If he plays for the Chiefs again in the regular season, his contract goes back to being guaranteed and it costs us if we cut him. If we dump him before then we don’t get penalized at all. There’s absolutely no good reason to keep him since he’s in decline and there’s no penalty to us for throwing him away.

unless you want to see run run pass punt over and over again

but Priest was a back that could adjust his running style L.J. I like him but if there isnt a hole he doesnt make one on his own Priest had the ability to do that. What made him great at that was his Patience!

Plus Priest can break things outside L.J. cant cut like him hes is north and south.
Priest was always behind great running backs in there prime.
Texas-Ricky Williams
Baltimore-Jamal Lewis

His contract becomes guaranteed again and he can continue to be the same problem child he was before (because we’ll take a cap hit for trading or dumping him) and he’ll still get paid. Not to mention that we’d end up paying him while he was suspended.

Why do you “Keep Larry” advocates keep ignoring this?

Draft a QB next year.

Why would the Chiefs plan to draft a QB next year when they’ve just traded for a fairly young QB this year that they think will be their franchise guy?

That fits a lot better with the rest of your comment…you had me really confused for a second. :)

injury prone or somthing like that

As the posts about Larry’s production showed. It’s not really that tough to find a running back to use as a complement with Jamaal Charles…those guys are everywhere. Primary running backs are harder to find, but frankly they’re not that necessary. And Larry Johnson’s not worth what he’s getting paid in his contract (or the off-field problems he causes) and considering that he may be facing a suspension soon anyway he’s not really going to help the Chiefs that much in 2009.

you sir understand what ive been trying to say
wrecked

All of you guys who want to get rid of him don’t seem to understand the fact that we only have one first day pick and we cannot afford to spend that pick on a LJ quality RB.

The Chiefs don’t actually need an LJ-quality running back. What they need is a guy who can be a complement to Jamaal Charles and split carries effectively. That quality of RB is often available on the 2nd day…or as a UDFA. And I do agree about Kolby Smith (who’s been terrible for most of his Chiefs career). Neither he nor Dantrell Savage are likely to be that guy. But Jesse Chatman, or Reuben Droughns, or Dominic Rhodes, or Patrick Cobb might be…and they’re all free agents who will be a lot cheaper than Johnson.

Basically, if we get rid of Johnson, the Chiefs don’t have to spend a first day draft pick to get themselves a running back, because decent running backs who can platoon (which is really all the Chiefs need) aren’t that tough to find. They can still spend draft picks on other needs. Whereas if the Chiefs keep Johnson, his contract gets re-guaranteed and we’re stuck with him again (and he has even less incentive to try hard).

Who gives a shit about the money.

The Chiefs do…that’s why they went through the trouble of getting his guaranteed money voided. And $X million the Chiefs aren’t spending on Larry Johnson is $X million they have to spend on someone else (or multiple someone elses) who can fill a lot more holes than Larry Johnson himself would.

I just don’t think we’ll get anything for him in the 2009 draft. And if we can’t trade him before the 2009 season, we’ll just dump him.

But if we cut him and he gets 1500 yards…..

Andy Reid already said the Eagles have no interest in Beanie Wells because they want a multipurpose back who’s useful in the passing game, not a bruiser who’s not a pass-catcher. That’s not LJ (especially when you add in that he’s not a pass-blocker either).

BUT I didn’t realize that we are going to have to keep his ASS happy for Four years If we play him one play in 2009

Speaking of YPC.. his average was 4.5 YPC not 4.

He’s had four yards per carry over the last two years…which is what I said.

This may sound crazy but that means statistically, you could give him the ball on every single play and he would net you 13.5 yards in three downs thus

Except that you can’t use him on passing downs because he’s not a good pass-catcher and won’t block so he’s basically just a two-down back at this point of his career (which means he’s not getting 1500 yards again). When he’s not suspended, that is…during those times he’s a no-down back.

I can respect that if he is willing to go after someone who is as good or better than who we have already. If not, then we are just downgrading the talent we have on the roster. To me, that is just begging to lose.

Except that Jamaal Charles was a more productive back than Johnson last year when they played and the Chiefs won only two games with Johnson in the lineup (and he took himself out of four games with his off-field behavior…not just the incidents at the club, but also his attitude towards meetings, team flights, etc.).

No offense, but fuck Larry Johnson. He doesn’t give a damn about being a great player and he doesn’t want to be a member of the Chiefs (he said so clearly right up until he got his contract voided). He just cares about his celebrity and his guaranteed contract and if he gets that back he’ll go back to being a piece of shit…regardless of what damage it does to the team. Because that’s how he is…he was raised to be a scumbag, he’s acted like a scumbag ever since he’s been here, and once he can get away with it again he’ll be a scumbag again. So I don’t care if we get a one year downgrade at running back (which we won’t because he’s not that good)…Larry Johnson is a loser and this team doesn’t need him weighing them down.