I'm one of the people who was happiest to see Herman Edwards go, and I believe a lot of his nice guy reputation is schtick and that he's more of a self-promoting smooth operator with little or no on-field skills. That said, the Chiefs are sabotaging him. Carl Peterson just gave an over the hill tight end ridiculous guaranteed money, has done nothing to upgrade a horrible offensive line, and now, is on the verge of letting the Chiefs primary offensive threat, Larry Johnson, enter into an extended holdout. From PFT: Chiefs running back Larry Johnson tells Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star that Johnson might be forced to hold out if he doesn't get a new contract by the start of training camp. "I'm prepared," Johnson told Whitlock. "They [my agent and father] got me saving money. I'm hustling to get more money to put in the bank. They already started setting aside different accounts, if that would have to happen. They're already telling me to be cautious about how I spend, where I go and stuff like that. To make sure that if it goes down like that, then I've got to be able to pace myself so I won't be in trouble." Johnson said he believes that Chiefs president Carl Peterson is going to "test" him in connection with contract negotiations that could turn contentious quickly -- especially in light of the fact that the Chiefs were making it known earlier this year that Johnson was available via trade. Johnson's agent, Alvin Keels, attended the interview, and added a few thoughts. Including this one: "The point I'd like to get out," Keels said, "is that if we were to have to hold out, it would be for the sake of good business, not being greedy. I think the picture that is being painted right now in the eyes of the fans is that we're coming into this negotiation being greedy. It's not good business for a player who rushes the ball 416 times in a season, back-to-back Pro Bowl seasons, back-to-back 1,700-yard seasons, back-to-back broken Kansas City Chiefs records, it's not good business for him to come back in and play for $1.7 million. And that's a sensitive area because $1.7 million is a lot more than most people in Kansas City make." But the real question, as we see it, is whether Johnson is a truly great runner, who will get his yards even with shoddy blocking, or whether his production is the result of the strong offensive lines that the team has enjoyed over the past few years. (But no more.) Indeed, the retirement of Willie Roaf in 2006 might have directly contributed to that 0.9 yard-per-carry dropoff last season. And with Will Shields now out of the picture, too, there could be another slip in 2007. And that could be why the Chiefs want to see what Johnson can do with an even weaker wall of blocking before paying him a bunch of money. Still, we see Johnson's side of it. "If they really want it to hit home, look at Earl Campbell," Johnson said. "He's not complaining, but he can barely walk. He's sitting in wheelchairs. He can't sit at banquets for a long amount of time before he has to leave. It's sad to have to watch him go through what he has to go through. You look at me; I don?t want to be like that. But I may end up like him. Who knows? I have to be able to plan for that, plan for my kids. I don't know if I'm going to be running back and forth taking my kids to soccer practice." So why should he take another 400-carry punishment in 2007 for only $1.7 million? Though it would have been nice if he had considered this before, you know, signing his contract, the fact that he could be carrying the entire offense on his back this season suggests to us that, in all fairness, an adjustment is necessary. Thus, our gut feeling on this one is that it could very well be another Deion Branch situation, with a lengthy holdout followed by a trade. If, that is, there's someone who wants him bad enough to both pay the player and pay his team. If, after all, King Carl demanded a fourth-round pick for a quarterback he no longer needed, Peterson might ask for a Ricky Williams package when it comes to a running back he no longer wants. -Can anyone say "karma?"-
Well, if he does get traded, some team is going to be VERY lucky, no matter what they give up for him.
The type of team that would hire Herm seems like the type of team that will pay Larry Johnson whatever he wants.
good fuck herm. i wanna see herm start from scratch and see if he can build a playoff team, cause i dont think he can.
He's not worth what it looks like he's worth. He's been really abused in terms of workload the last couple of seasons and the odds are good he has 2 seasons or less left in him. If he winds up on a team with a strong line and other threats to keep the defense from stacking the box he might have two strong seasons left in him, but I doubt it.
See, I think the odds of him having more than two seasons left are greatly increased the minute he gets away from Hermy. Any other coach in the league would actually appreciate the talent that LJ has and try to preserve it by giving him less carries. Re-reading that, I guess I kinda just said what you said, and what was initially a post of disagreement is actually along the same lines. Herm = career over Trade = a couple more good years
two things. The first is that KC will be the team on HBO's hard knocks this season, so it will be funny to watch camp herm. I think if he holds out KC will bend over for him. This guy is literally the entire team. With out LJ, this is probably the worst team in the NFL. Its pretty scary that he is scheduled to make the SAME as Pete Kendell. I think they will give him a contract extention soon.
Bet your ass, I get to key someone else's car instead of getting mine keyed for once. As far as Herm goes, this is he second job he's had where the GM has gone off and done inexplicable things and Herm has a finger to point at and say that the moves made by the FO were the reason he failed. I'm starting to wonder how much input Herm bothers to give to his FO regarding the priority of players in the long term future of the team, or whether he even has a true plan for the future of the team. Bradway did some pretty damn stupid things, but I never got the feeling that Herm cared a lot for the activity of team-building, from the perspective of a Head Coach.
I than, guess the question is: When Herm gets canned in KC, what franchise is stupid enough to make him their head coach AND gm? :grin: (Don't anybody shake their head, b/c you all KNOW it is possible)
This is one of the rare cases I think the player is in the right... KC is certainly working him over and I think a repeat of last season would pretty much assure LJ's career is nearly over. Nobody can take that kind of abuse.
You got the title all wrong...it's Herm Sabotaging Chiefs (by running their franchise player into early retirement)
