Chris Johnson
Chris Johnson | Tennessee Titans | RB
Height: 5-11 Weight: 200 | Born: 9/23/1985
2011 Experience: 4th season
Fantasy Football Outlook: While I still believe Chris Johnson is a top four running back at 2011 drafts, talks of a holdout have me bailing on him as a worthy option over Arian Foster, Adrian Peterson and Jamaal Charles. The Titans seem to think they can get away with another season but paying Johnson under a million dollars and his value as been clearly much higher than that for the past three seasons, since his breakout rookie year.
Don’t be surprised if you see Johnson’s ADP value still ranked ahead of Charles throughout most of the summer, but a hold out coupled with the Titans re-building project, are a concerns that are working against the great player. If it were on talent alone that I had to choose a running back on, I would take Johnson hands down but his situation is worth passing on if you can get one of the three running backs listed above. If Johnson should in fact, holdout, and it lasts deep into the preseason, I may drop him down further in our rankings because the risk for injury starts to climb.
9/2011 Update - Johnson is back as he agreed to terms on a new deal. Look to Johnson as a legit option to select with the first pick in the draft.
| Rushing Stats | Receiving Stats | |||||
| Attempts | Yards | TD | Rec | Yards | TD | |
| 2011 Projected Stats | 303 | 1,277 | 11 | 53 | 418 | 1 |
2011 NFL Fantasy Football Draft: ADP Values | Rankings | Mocks | Cheat Sheets + Auction Values
| Rushing | Receiving | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Age | G | GS | Att | Yds | TD | Lng | Rec | Yds | TD | Lng | YScm | Fmb | ||||||
| 2008* | 23 | 15 | 14 | 251 | 1228 | 9 | 66 | 4.9 | 81.9 | 16.7 | 43 | 260 | 6.0 | 1 | 25 | 2.9 | 17.3 | 1488 | 1 |
| 2009*+ | 24 | 16 | 16 | 358 | 2006 | 14 | 91 | 5.6 | 125.4 | 22.4 | 50 | 503 | 10.1 | 2 | 69 | 3.1 | 31.4 | 2509 | 3 |
| 2010* | 25 | 16 | 16 | 316 | 1364 | 11 | 76 | 4.3 | 85.3 | 19.8 | 44 | 245 | 5.6 | 1 | 25 | 2.8 | 15.3 | 1609 | 3 |
| Career | 47 | 46 | 925 | 4598 | 34 | 91 | 5.0 | 97.8 | 19.7 | 137 | 1008 | 7.4 | 4 | 69 | 2.9 | 21.4 | 5606 | 7 | |
More Fantasy Football Player Profiles
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To help you get ready for draft day you will notice articles for ADP advice, cheat sheets, mock drafts and projected stats for Chris Johnson here. During the season, you can also find regular weekly ranking articles at this section as well.
Below we have selected some of our favorite videos found on the web (mainly from YouTube), and we hope you enjoy this insightful, visual information.
May 2011: Early Fantasy Outook
The Titans struggled on offense in 2010, and it was clear that Offensive Coordinator Mike Heimerdinger wasn’t using Chris Johnson correctly, as he routinely run him up the middle against eight man fronts. While Johnson failed to live up to be the top producing running back for fantasy football, he was still solid as he posted 12 touchdowns, over 1,600 yards of total offense and 44 receptions.
The 44 receptions are a decent number but when you consider that the Titans were often playing from behind, his numbers should have been closer to 75 receptions, and that should change in 2011. New Head Coach Mike Munchak was a great offensive lineman (Hall Of Fame, Class of 2001) for the Houston Oilers and has been the teams offensive line coach since 1997.
In that time, we’ve seen the Titans put together solid offensive lines and running backs like Eddie George, Chris Brown (at times, when healthy) and Johnson had been stars in fantasy football. Coming into last season the Titans were in a small re-building mode for the offensive line, and if Munchak was gone this off-season, I would have ranked Johnson lower for fantasy drafts.
With Munchak, I feel confident that the offensive line will continue to mature and give Johnson more opportunities for big plays. Another positive in this situation is that ex-offensive line coaches tend to make it a priority to get the football into a special running backs hand anyway they can. This couldn’t be truer, as Munchak has already talked about using more screen plays (Thank God) to get Johnson the football. Where Fisher and Heimerdinger shied away from creativity, Munchak isn’t afraid to do so, because he has more confident in his lineman to execute those style of plays.
Running the football straight up the middle may be a safer play because you don’t have as many moving parts to execute the play, but against consistent eight man fronts, that predictability, is a big reason why the Titans were one of the worst teams (failing to move the football) in clock management.
For Standard and PPR leagues, I have Arian Foster as the top running back to select but if the Titans’ quarterback situation falls together the right way, I might move Johnson up to the top running back on our boards, before the season begins. Currently, Johnson’s ADP value on Mock Draft Central and Fantasy Football Calculator have him listed as the third best runner to select in standard and PPR redraft leagues.
Adrian Peterson is a great running back, but I have Johnson ahead of him because Johnson plays in a much easier division to run the football, and I’ve never seen Peterson put a full season of high rushing yards, top end receiving numbers and a 16 plus touchdown total together (not great in December as well) in one season. Johnson and Foster have put together those type of numbers, and with a more creative offense, Johnson should continue to defy the deficiencies (defense, quarterback) of his overall team to possibly be the top producing fantasy back once again.
2010 Preview
Chris Johnson is clearly the top pick in just about all fantasy formats this up coming season. Johnson provides everything a fantasy owner could ever want, and he is only in his third year as a pro.
2010 Fantasy Football Outlook
2009 Fantasy Year In Review: Many wondered if Chris Johnson could handle the full load as a feature back in the NFL coming into his second year. By mid season, it was clear that Johnson was not only capable of handling the job, but he was by far the best fantasy player in the NFL.
Johnson didn’t just rush for over 2,000 yards, he set the all time record for most total yards from scrimmage (was Marshall Faulk’s record) in a single season. This display makes Johnson the unquestioned No.1 pick in fantasy this up coming season and pending health, for years to come.
2010 NFL Fantasy Football Player Rankings: If you don’t have the top pick at your fantasy draft this season you had best hope you play Johnson on an off week. Even an off day is still a very good game for most NFL running backs so the odds of Johnson having little production against you is minimal.
It’s nice to have the 4.2 speed that Johnson possesses, but it is even more special when that speed compliments a runner that actually knows how to play his position. Johnson not only has moves and a good team around him, but he has the patients to wait for a hole to open and the burst of speed to blaze right through.
Unless Johnson is injured, he should have another great fantasy football season for fantasy owners.
Assets
- Speed
- Good All Around Team
- Good Hands
- Touchdown Maker
- Big Plays
Liabilities
- ??????
