It was supposed to be a day to remember Chris Johnson, and it still can be. The NFL's all-time single-season yards leader was scheduled to be honored today by the Tennessee Titans, for whom he starred from 2008–2013, at halftime of their game against the New York Jets, for whom he played in 2014. But the Titans announced Friday that Johnson won't be able to travel to Nashville to be inducted into the team's Ring of Honor, and the ceremony will be postponed to a later date. I hope it does happen later. Johnson's appearance was canceled due to "unforeseen circumstances," and it's hard not to assume that's health-related.
Johnson, 40, revealed in June on Good Morning America that he's been diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a degenerative neurological disorder that is invariably fatal. It is cruel and it works quickly: The average time between onset and death is between two and four years. Johnson said he first noticed weakness in one hand in March 2025, and by the time of his GMA interview just 15 months later, he required a computerized speech-generating device that he controls with his eye movements.
A few days ago, Johnson published "A Letter to My Kids" in The Players' Tribune; it felt like a goodbye. "How can a man just be perfectly healthy one day," he wrote, "running around with his kids in the yard, and then the next, your hand starts getting weak, and it just travels throughout your whole body until you can’t talk anymore?"
In the piece, Johnson grappled with the possibility that football caused the disease. "I’ve seen a lot of neurologists at this point and been to basically every major ALS clinic in the country, and in my experience, as soon as you say you played football it’s like, 'Ahh, OK,'" Johnson wrote. "Almost like an understanding, you know?" Johnson cited one study, from June, that found that NFL players are four times as likely as the general population to die from a neurodegenerative disease. He says he doesn't know for sure, and he'll never know, if blows to the head sustained during his career led to his ALS, but he accepts the possibility.
Which makes it feel a little strange to gush about his career, but Johnson says he loved playing football and his diagnosis hasn't changed that, and I loved watching him play football, and if he's not going to be with us for much longer, there's no better time than the present to appreciate him. I've found that the best, non-embarrassing thing to say when you run into a celebrity and want to say something is a simple "I enjoy your work." (It worked like a charm on Ethan Hawke, who was a regular at my old diner and once asked if he could borrow my table's syrup, and Michael Cera, who once got off at my subway stop and looked a little lost, though Michael Cera always looks a little lost.) So: Chris Johnson, I enjoyed your work.
Johnson was among the coolest running backs in the coolest era of running backs. He had an unusual blend of both quickness and speed (which are not the same thing) and was big enough to break tackles if need be. He was a track star in high school whose open-field speed translated to broken records at East Carolina, where he'd return to complete his degree after his NFL retirement. "STUDENT-ATHLETE!!!!!!!!" Johnson wrote upon graduation. "If they’re going to use you for your talent, you use them for their education!!!!"
Attending a small program meant he was projected to be a day-2 draft pick, but his combine performance earned him a first-round selection from the Titans. He wasted no time. He ran for 93 yards in Week 1 of his very first season, and cracked the 100-yard barrier in Week 2. He would record 40 100-yard games out of 130 total games played in his career. His 2,509 yards from scrimmage in 2009 feels more unbeatable as time goes on and workhorse backs get rarer. CJ2K helped make the post-McNair Tennessee Titans fun to watch, another feat that feels like it may never be matched.
Devoting 20 minutes to this chronological highlight reel will reward your time far better than any network pregame show today. This countdown of Johnson's 10 longest rushes starts with a 58-yarder. God, he was so cool. I hope he gets as much time left as he can.
