Monday, Nov. 09, 2009

Chiefs release Larry Johnson

Larry Johnson's often-tumultuous tenure in Kansas City is over, as the Chiefs released the embattled running back on Monday.

The move comes just a week after the team and the former first-round pick reached a settlement in connection with a two-week suspension that was levied in late October.

Johnson was suspended for the team's bye week and this past Sunday's game against Jacksonville for conduct detrimental to the team, stemming from comments he made following an October 25 loss to San Diego.

On his Twitter account that Sunday night, Johnson posted demeaning comments toward Chiefs head coach Todd Haley and used a gay slur in another post before issuing another anti-gay remark the next day.

Johnson's suspension was scheduled to end Monday.

This season, Johnson has rushed 132 times for 358 yards with no touchdowns and has 12 receptions for 76 yards.

In 75 games, including 55 starts, with Kansas City, Johnson rushed 1,375 times for 5,996 yards with 55 touchdowns. He also registered 151 receptions for 1,369 yards with six scores. He concluded his Chiefs career with 30 100-yard rushing games and also added two 100-yard receiving games.

Johnson established an NFL single-season record with 416 rushing attempts in 2006 when he set a franchise single-season mark with 1,789 rushing yards.

The Chiefs selected Johnson with the 27th overall pick of the 2003 NFL Draft, but he had a history of problems off the field during his stay with the club.

In March of this year, Johnson pleaded guilty to two counts of disturbing the peace stemming from two separate incidents last October involving women at Kansas City nightclubs.

Johnson was subsequently benched by the Chiefs for consecutive weeks following the initial incident then suspended by the NFL and deactivated by the team to focus on his personal life after word of the second incident surfaced.

The Penn State product had already faced two previous charges with assaulting a woman. In 2003 Johnson was accused of aggravated assault and misdemeanor domestic battery for waving a gun at his ex-girlfriend, but the charges were dropped because the running back entered a domestic-violence program. In 2005, Johnson was accused of pushing a woman to the ground at another KC nightspot, but the charges were later dropped.