Chris Johnson, 3x Pro Bowler

Back inside Radio Row and now joining us is a man that had one of the greatest individual seasons in NFL history.

That is former Tennessee Titans running back in Chris Johnson. Chris, how are you? I'm doing good, man. Just chilling. Back in Arizona, my old seven-round play, three years here towards the end of my career, so it feels good to be back. So, let me hear a little bit about this podcast that you're doing right now, because they were telling me about it before you sat down.

I didn't know about it. That seems fun, you and Lindell White. Yeah, me and Lindell, you know, we always go back and forth on topics and different things, and then, you know, the podcast kind of is taken off, and you're like, man, we already do this. We might as well just, you know, put it on camera.

Put it on camera. And, you know, he got a real big personality or whatever, so we talk about everything from sports to things that's going on in the world, just everything. We tell old locker room stories, like all different type of stuff.

Like, you'll just have to tune in to see, but it's definitely a good time. That's what this should be. It's not like really an interview. I call this more of a conversation, because people that sit there, and they get all prim and proper, and they pretend to know more football than you. Like, that never makes sense to me. It's just, you know, basically two guys at a bar having fun and talking sports.

Exactly. Chris Johnson here with us. So, for the Tennessee history, in the last 20 years, right, you have Eddie George, you have yourself, and then you also now have Derrick Henry. What is it like for you to watch what Derrick Henry's been able to do the last few years? Oh, man, it's crazy.

Just to sit there and be able to watch it. The stuff that he's doing, when you talk about just all the backs, like you say, we got Eddie, we got Derrick, we have myself, we have Earl Campbell. Like, I feel like we is the organization that have had the best backs in history. When it comes to the quarterback, though, the future of Ryan Tannehill, how do you kind of view Ryan as a quarterback? I feel like he's a good quarterback. I just feel like he don't fit what Tennessee is trying to do. I just feel like he don't fit it.

When you got a guy like Derrick in the backfield, with Tannehill, they still going to put eight in the box. I feel like we need somebody that can throw the ball all over the field, that type of passing quarterback, that way you can back some of those guys up, and then they'll have to play our offense honest. Do you think they should pursue a trade for Aaron Rodgers?

Yeah, I definitely think so. A-Rod and Darry Henry, can't beat that. That would be a fun AFC South division race between them and the Jaguars. Right, right.

I think that will automatically put us, that will automatically put us, we'll win that division, for sure. Talking to Chris Johnson here with us. So, if it's not Rodgers, does Devrick Carr, does Jimmy Garoppolo excite you at all?

Yeah, both of those guys do. I'm not sure where Garoppolo is with his injury and when he'll be back, but both of those guys definitely excites me. They always try to write Garoppolo off, but he does nothing but win, so I don't understand that.

When he's playing, he wins, so I guess he can't stay healthy or whatever like that, but either one of those guys definitely excites me. What's the lasting memory for you from that 2,000 plus yard season? The lasting memory, I guess just the camaraderie between like the team, like going into that game, everybody know what we're trying to do. Everybody's on board doing whatever it takes for me to go for them 2,000 yards like everybody was on board.

Just that family-ness, that brotherhood-ness and all that stuff, man. What do you think about the state of the running back position today? Because a lot of people now say you don't need to take a running back in the first round, you don't need a bell cow back anymore, and it feels like the league, you have some marquee guys, but you could win running back by committee.

It's crazy to me because they say that, they say that, but guess what? When it comes to playoffs time, when it comes to Super Bowl time, you need a running back, you need a running game, and they depend on us. So it's kind of crazy for you to see all these other positions make all this money, and the most brutal position on the team is the running back position, and they don't make as much. Now, you have guys that make some good money at running back, but, man, you got receivers 20, 20, 22, 23, $25 million a year. Running back's not seeing that. So I don't feel like it's right, but at the end of the day, it is what it is.

It's a good thing now. I have kids that play football, so I push them to play receiver. Like one of my sons, he want to play running back, running back, running back, and I'm in his head. I'm trying to get him to switch his position. It ain't happened yet, but hopefully by the time he go to high school, I can get him to switch to receiver. Is that tough for your kid playing football when they know who Dad is and what Dad did on a football field?

Is it tough as far as what? There's got to be some pressure, right? On them?

Yeah. I think right now at this age, they're just having fun. Yeah, they're not thinking about that. I don't think they think the pressure, but, you know, I'm going to build them.

I'm going to make sure I teach them. Ain't no such thing as pressure. If you work hard, you stay focused and do what you got to do. Everything going to happen how it's supposed to happen. Ain't no pressure. No matter what I did because, you know, within the whole thing, I don't think they understand it, but it goes with other people that they play against and stuff like that. They're like, oh, that's Chris Johnson's kids right there. Oh, you got to do this or you got to make sure you beat them or you better than them and stuff like that.

The outside people, they're going to do that. But what I teach my boys is like, man, at the end of the day, man, you can only control you. Work hard, stay focused, do what you got to do, and everything going to work itself out. It don't matter what I did or any of that. Did you ever have any fear about letting your kids play football? I ain't going to say fear. It was just I didn't want them to start as early.

You know what I'm saying? My kids are starting five years old. My boys, they ain't started playing until they was eight years old, so I made them wait like three years. They wanted to play, but I made them wait like three years. I let them play some flag or something like that.

They started when they was eight. How do you kind of break down this game? Who do you like to win coming up on Sunday? I want the Eagles to win.

I can't lie. They got a running game. They got the better offense in my opinion. The better offense in line.

You know, I start in the trenches. I want them to win. I think they're going to win, but if I had to bet, I can't bet against Mahomes. I think you're the only one this week.

We've talked to so many people. It's been Philly, Philly, Philly, Philly, and I've been saying I'm picking the Eagles, but the only pause is they got 15, they got 87 with Mahomes and Kelsey. So you're going on the record. You're taking the Chiefs. No, I'm not taking the Chiefs. Oh, no. If I had to bet, I ain't betting. Oh, different. I'm different. You see, when I watch games and things like that, it'd be kind of hard for me because if I bet, say if I bet for a KC, then I don't want nobody on the Eagles to do good.

Gotcha. You know what I'm saying? So when I be watching these games and the Super Bowls and stuff, I don't take no team. I just want to see a good game, and I just want to see people go off, man. I know you got to run.

Last thing I'll ask you. So outside of Derek Henry, because we already talked about him, who are the other running backs that you enjoy watching these days? I like Nick Chubb. I like Dalvin Cook. I like Saquon, Chris McCaffrey, those guys.

Those guys. And they got a new, another guy that probably going to be real good next year is, what is his name? Pierce from Houston. Oh, yeah. Damian. Yeah, Damian Pierce from Houston.

Good rookie year. Yeah. Well, good to see you. Evan Matt talks with Matt Hardy. There's nothing like a wrestling fan, you know, for better or for worse. How do you handle that, though? We're talking about people talking about your family, what they don't know about your family or your brother or you. How does one handle that from a day to day basis? Something I joke about with the Young Bucks all the time, I said, if you would vanity search Matt Hardy on Twitter, I said, after you got through a hundred replies, you'd want to quit the business and never be seen again.

It's just, you just learn to deal with it. You know what I mean? It's the Kick Rocks Wrestling Podcast with Evan T. Mack.

Subscribe now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. Evan Mack talks with Matt Hardy. There's nothing like a wrestling fan, you know, for better or for worse. How do you handle that, though? We're talking about people talking about your family, what they don't know about your family or your brother or you. How does one handle that from a day to day basis? Something I joke about with the Young Bucks all the time, I said, if you would vanity search Matt Hardy on Twitter, I said, after you got through a hundred replies, you'd want to quit the business and never be seen again.

It's just, you just learn to deal with it. You know what I mean? It's the Kick Rocks Wrestling Podcast with Evan T. Mack. Subscribe now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. The biggest game of the year, the Super Bowl, is on Odyssey and Westwood One brings it to you streaming live for free Sunday, February 12th on the Odyssey app. The Eagles have been the NFC's best team. Touchdown, Travis Kelce. It's the Eagles versus the Chiefs. The Kansas City Chiefs, the Philadelphia Eagles are going to the Super Bowl again. Catch all the action from Westwood One, your Super Bowl, your Odyssey. Get in the game and download the free Odyssey app today.