I'm sure most of you have been as confident as me that Derrick Johnson is coming back to the Kansas City Chiefs. However on Tuesday night this note from Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson popped up suggesting we should slow our roll on DJ coming back to Kansas City.
#Chiefs fans might want to check the optimism on a Derrick Johnson return. Kansas City is poking around Jerrell Freeman as a replacement.
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) March 8, 2016
Don't shoot the messenger. It's close to free agency bell. Derrick Johnson isn't signed. #Chiefs exploring options. https://t.co/Bj8TX0ewEv
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) March 9, 2016
I believe the report that the Chiefs are poking around but I don't believe this will ultimately have an impact on Derrick Johnson. Why? Because the Chiefs and DJ have both made it clear as day what they want to do. Two quotes explain why:
Derrick Johnson (February 18): "I want to be a Kansas City Chief, no doubt. I don't want to go to another team. That's all I know. I'm kind of biased right now spending 11 years there so God willing I'll still be there."
Chiefs GM John Dorsey (February 25): "We are going to move this thing forward, anytime you become the all-time leading tackler for the Chiefs, we're not going to let good football players go in this thing," Chiefs GM John Dorsey said at the Combine.
Based on those quotes, which were only a couple weeks ago, I would be STUNNED if DJ were not the Chiefs starting linebacker next September. Let's not overthink this one. If DJ really wanted to leave, there would be teams lining up to sign him. You hear ANYONE talking about DJ? No, you don't.