A brief scan of Ben Maller's Rumors and Notes column, a collection of links to sports pages around the country, shows the Patriots, Eagles, Lions and Vikings as teams that may have an interest in signing Kevin Johnson, who was waived by the Browns yesterday.
At a press conference this morning, team President Carmen Policy said that while the team didn't want to release Johnson, the receiver left them "no choice". Policy added:
“It appeared he lost any incentive to compete and participate as a member of the team if he couldn’t be the starter.”
This team will miss Kevin Johnson. Few receivers in the NFL have hands as good as Johnson's, and that is doubly important when your team's quarterbacks aren't exactly known for pinpoint accuracy.
Various published reports in recent weeks and months have made the case against Johnson that he doesn't block well, (debatable), that he doesn't get yardage after the catch (hard to do when the ball is thrown behind you or at your ankles), or that he is a "self-promoter" in terms of media exposure, (teams need more guys who are affable, intelligent, "media-friendly" presences on their teams, not less).
KJ has also been criticized for going down too easily after the catch, giving up potential yardage to avoid taking the big hits. I don't suppose it's coincidental that he has been extremely reliable, and relatively injury-free, and therefore a dependable presence week to week in a league in which injuries to skilled position players are rampant. It's a matter of taking the bitter with the sweet.
This move, seemingly a power play by Butch Davis, can only further alienate Davis from his fan base. He is reportedly not well-liked by the veteran players, and seems aloof and arrogant to many fans. Cutting one of the most popular players on the team reminds this fan of the Belichick-Kosar feud of the mid-90's, which tore the team apart and helped push Art Modell toward Baltimore. PD opinion columnist Bill Livingston says Davis is "cleaning house" of players he didn't personally draft:
Johnson failed Davis' loyalty test. Actually, that test is graded on the curve. You get extra credit for being drafted by Davis for the Browns, or for being recruited by Davis for the University of Miami, or for playing in any conference south of the Mason-Dixon Line...If Johnson lacked the character to block away from the ball, he still had enough of it to steer clear of the police blotter. You can't say that about two of Davis' three first-round draft choices, Gerard Warren and William Green.
UPDATE 11/13: Here's some more KJ aftermath from the Thursday Plain Dealer
Posted by dan at November 12, 2003 01:48 PMJohnson and Leftwich in Jacksonville should be a pretty good combo . . . Good Luck to him.
Posted by: jj at November 12, 2003 11:10 PM