Q&A with CARL PETERSON on Larry Johnson

Aug 21, 2007, 1:49:21 PM

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CARL PETERSON: “Larry Johnsons is here and practicing. He’s under contract, a six-year deal. It’s been a little bit of a lengthy negotiation but, I think, a good one, a fair one on both sides. He’s obviously very important to this organization and a big part of our offense. It’s good to have him here; it’s good to have the last of all our children here under contract – the full 88 [players under contract].

“We will make a decision but I doubt very seriously he will have any participation Thursday night, but I’ll talk to Herm about that.”

Q: Were you surprised he ran right out here on the field, got in the huddle and ran a play?

PETERSON: “Frankly, it surprised me a little bit. I met with him last night. He called me and wanted to chat and we met privately. I could see that he very much wanted to get on the field. He expressed that to me - that he wanted to be out here with his teammates. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a guy sign his contract that fast. But he wanted to get out here today and get going. To my surprise, I thought he’d be doing some running on the sideline.

“He is in really good shape and we’ll check it out more thoroughly but I have been monitoring his progress. I think people already know that he was down in Arizona working very hard. I got a scouting report from Brady Quinn who was down there with him when he was out of camp.

“But again, Larry Johnson is very important to this organization. I think he knows that, his family knows that and we’re glad he’s going to be here – perhaps for the remainder of his career. I hope it goes beyond six years.”

Q: In the big picture what do you think he missed in a month of camp and what kind of shape do you think he’ll be in for the first [regular season] game?

PETERSON: “If he was out beyond the third game that’s when I start becoming concerned about veterans. I’ll give you an [example]. In 2005, Priest Holmes was our starting running back and in four pre-season games he had 23 touches and Larry Johnson last year as our starting running back in three games had 22 touches. So, that’s probably what he’s missed – or some portion of that. I don’t think it’ll take him long to get up to speed.

“The one [type of] conditioning that he knows and that all of us involved in football know is that you can’t duplicate is conditioning with your pads on: being hit and hitting people. There’s a soreness aspect you need to go through. He expressed to me last night that he knew that and he didn’t want to waste any more time sitting out.”

Q: Will that $14,000 a day fine hold up or is that negotiable?

PETERSON: “Yes, the fine is there. He knows that and that was part of the agreement. That’s behind us now. The clock stopped ticking today. It’s done and Larry understands that we’re moving on.”

Q: You don’t discuss how much money that it is but I’m assuming he can pay the fine?

PETERSON: “I think they’ll be a little bit left over [laughs].”

Q: Is it safe to say it’s the richest Chiefs contract ever?

PETERSON: “I don’t discuss contracts with the media specific to Chiefs players.”

Q: If he hadn’t reached out to you the other night would this still be where it was a couple of days ago?

PETERSON: “We felt that we were there and it’s a situation where Larry has to ultimately make that decision for himself. As I tell every player, there are two signatures on that contact at the end of the day: his and mine. We both have to be happy enough to be comfortable enough to be signing it. We both were and I appreciate the efforts by Larry’s representatives and how much I appreciate [assistant GM] Denny Thum and his long-time efforts being able to say ‘no’ without upsetting people. He and [Johnson agent] Alvin Keels put a lot of time and effort into this.

“But when it gets down to getting close it becomes Larry’s decision and my decision. I think this is a good decision for both and for the future of the Kansas City Chiefs.”

Q: How does this affect the Priest Holmes situation if at all?

PETERSON: “It doesn’t affect Priest at all. I sometimes don’t understand why the media doesn’t listen to what we’re saying. First of all, Priest Holmes deserves the right to try to make a comeback after being gone for 22 months. After what he’s contributed to the Kansas City Chiefs and National Football League I want to afford him that opportunity.

“But he knew from the onset and I’d like to express it one more time: if Priest is with us it will not be in the same capacity as it was before. I think, and Herm thinks, he can be a marvelous situational running back – that’s short yardage, goal line, screens and draws. He’s not going to carry it or touch it as much as he did when he was with us before.

“We had a running back here more than a few years ago who was 33 years old when I signed him as an unrestricted free agent. He was here five years and left at 38 years old and helped us get to the AFC championship game. He helped us get to a number of playoffs. His name was Marcus Allen.

“I’ve said it before: if Priest Holmes can be 75-80% of what he was when he was with us as the starting running back he can help this franchise win football games.”

Q: Will he start the season on PUP?

PETERSON: “I don’t know that yet. We’re evaluating his condition every day. He’s making great progress. He’s come a long way. In his defense - and he readily admitted it when he made the decision to come back this year - he hadn’t the foundation of cardio-vascular, muscular and strength conditioning as he has in the past. So, he’s been running on a fast track trying to catch up in four weeks. Normally he would do it in six months.

“We’ll see where he is after this week and next week.”

Q: He’s not out there today?

PETERSON: “I don’t know about that. I know he’s been doing some conditioning perhaps inside. But I wasn’t out here. I was busy with another running back?

Q: LJ is here and you’ve got a couple of other running backs that you like. If it comes to it would you release Priest or ask him to retire? How would you handle that?

PETERSON: “Priest has to make this football team on his merits. But they are all the merits that he has accumulated over all the years. That will be something Herm and I discuss. We’ve got a cut to 75 [players] this week and he will be in that 75 without any question. We’ll see where he is next week and we do have some other options that we discussed.”

Q: Is Larry’s six-year deal an extension or starting fresh this year?

PETERSON: “It’s this year and five new ones. But this year has changed [financially].”

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