Derrick Johnson, who will soon be a free agent, posted a final goodbye to the Kansas City Chiefs on his official Instagram account on Sunday:
Johnson wrote:
I want to thank the Kansas City Chiefs and the Hunt family for supporting me since 2005. The Love you showed a young kid from Texas, really allowed me to have a home away from home. Chiefs Kingdom you will be truly missed. Trust me I wish I could play for the chiefs forever but that’s not the reality. However God has been blessing me for a long time in KC and my trust will remain in the man upstairs. #13greatyears #easilymotivated #notdoneyet
It’s hard to continue to feel fine about Johnson leaving as you read words like, “I wish I could play for the Chiefs forever but that’s not the reality.”
It may make a little more sense once Johnson signs his next deal, but you have to question the decision to let him walk when he has made it abundantly clear he would have taken a pay cut to stay.
Derrick Johnson is allowing the fewest yards per coverage snap among inside linebackers this season (0.41). Limiting his snaps (845 so far) has worked #ChiefsKingdom
— Eric Eager (@PFF_EricEager) December 27, 2017
Wouldn’t he have been an above-average backup and an elite mentor for all the younger players the Chiefs are trying to develop? Reggie Ragland has already expressed the latter.
What would the price have been to maintain that?
I get the push to get young, I do, but the move still doesn’t sit completely right with me.
It felt like Johnson was still a serviceable role player, he was willing to take less money and you just can’t find a leader like him—a player who knows Kansas City, understands how this franchise works and knows how to be a successful professional here—on the street.
Johnson is 35, and I get it, but at the same time, I just don’t.