Chris Johnson's Holdout Could Extend into Regular Season: Fantasy Impact

You might not get to see as much of this in 2011

Alright, fantasy owners. Is it time to start waving the red flag and getting concerned about Tennessee Titans RB Chris Johnson?

Titan’s owner Bud Adams has acknowledged that the Johnson holdout may last into the regular season. Fantasy owners, “Say what?” Yes, you did in fact read that right and probably are pressing the panic button.

The bottom line for the whole ordeal is this: Johnson wants to be paid as the highest paid player in the game. My response: That’s ridiculous. Will Johnson actually get the money he is demanding? My response: Heck no.

The Titans have repeatedly said they are willing to make Johnson the highest paid running back in the game, which is very reasonable. He would end up making around 10 million per year. Yet he’s still turning it down?

You bet.

I have a sneaky suspicion that Chris Johnson is just trying to milk every penny he can get out of Adams. The same feeling that tells me he is going to jump at an offer he receives within a couple days before the opening game. However, I’ve been wrong before and I have another sneaky suspicion that I’m way off base here as well.

If Johnson can convince everyone else and himself that he’s not budging, I have the feeling that Adams is going to raise his bar a tad higher with each negotiation. Yes, this is the same Adams that said he will not negotiate with Johnson, yet GM Mike Reinfeldt met with him today. Suffice to say no progress has been made. No future plans for meeting face to face are in order either.

Here’s the biggest problem:

1. Chris Johnson isn’t going to cry over losing a year’s worth of salary with the equivalent of 1 million, so he definitely might not budge.

2. The Titans aren’t going to miss CJ2K too much, mainly because this is expected to be a down year where they miss the playoffs anyways. Bad year, higher draft pick, even higher hopes for next season. It could actually work in the Titans favor.

In the end, SOMEBODY has to budge. I’ve got another feeling, I’m having a lot of those tonight, that it is going to be Johnson and co. If you have Johnson on your fantasy team, it might not be such a bad idea to go pick up Javon Ringer (9% owned in Yahoo! leagues.)

This sucker could last into the regular season, possibly even quite a few weeks, so just be prepared. Clear room for Ringer. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

My prediction: Chris Johnson will end this holdout and take the money to be highest RB paid (around 10 mil) a couple days before the season starts or within the first two weeks of the season. Bold, I know.