The Rome report

Some players just can’t get it right. Last Wednesday, Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle Ed Johnson was caught speeding while in possession of marijuana. When I hear stories like this, a couple things come to mind. First, why do some athletes feel the need to smoke weed? Some athletes make more money in a year than some of us will make in our lifetimes. They really can’t find another was to spend their time and money than on weed. Second, if they are going to smoke marijuana do they really have to smoke it while they are speeding down the highway? It is bad enough they are smoking weed in the first place, but now they have to draw attention to themselves by doing 20 over the speed limit? It just doesn’t make sense to me. I would think that you would want to stay out of the spotlight when smoking weed, but maybe that’s just me.

After the Colts found out about Johnson’s arrest, they cut him. So Johnson gave up a starting job in the NFL because he could not stay away from marijuana. In getting cut, Johnson forfeited his league minimum salary. Just in case you didn’t know, the NFL league minimum for players with more than one year of experience is $370,000. That’s about 10 times more than normal people make in a year. What makes this story even worse is Johnson knew what would happen to him if he ran into any kind of trouble. Colts President Bill Polian and head coach Tony Dungy repeatedly told Johnson to watch his behavior, because he had a history of bad behavior when he was playing at Penn State. In 2005, he was expelled temporarily from the school because of sexual misconduct and confining another student against the student’s will. He was reinstated later in 2006 but was suspended for the Outback Bowl against Tennessee for violating team rules. His bad behavior in college cost him a lot of money in the 2007 NFL Draft because he went from being a first-day prospect to being an undrafted free agent.

Luckily for Johnson, someone probably will sign him if he doesn’t get a lengthy suspension for the NFL. He is a very talented player. After injuries to other defensive linemen last season, he started every game and played very well. The Colts were expecting him to have another good season this year. In the end talent wins in the NFL. If you are talented and can help a team win, you probably will be given another chance if you mess up. Look at the cases of Cowboys cornerback Adam Jones and Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry. They both have had multiple run-ins with the law and were cut from teams. They both were signed by teams because of their talent. In Henry’s case, he was resigned by the team that originally cut him. So Johnson’s phone probably will ring soon, and on the other end of the phone will be the general manger or the coach of another team offering him a contract. But I will warn Johnson, he better get his behavior under control. The last thing he wants is a meeting with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.