Johnny Johnson, Jr. (born June 11, 1968) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who was a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

and the

Phoenix Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play th ...

between 1990 and 1994.

High school and college

He prepped at

Santa Cruz High School Santa Cruz High School is a comprehensive public school in Santa Cruz, California which originally opened in 1897 and now serves an enrollment of about 1,040 students in grades nine through twelve. It is part of the Santa Cruz City School Distr ...

. Johnson attended and graduated from

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

. For the

San Jose State Spartans basketball The San Jose State Spartans men's basketball team represents San José State University in NCAA Division I college basketball as a member of the Mountain West Conference. History The SJSU men's basketball team played its first recorded game in ...

team, Johnson played 12 games as a basketball player after most team members walked off and refused to play under coach Bill Berry. With 1,219 yards rushing and 61 catches in receiving, Johnson was considered among the top 20 college football players in the United States in 1988. After five games into his senior season, Johnson was dismissed from the team for missing practices and team meetings. Johnson's reasoning for missing practices was to help take care of his mother in the aftermath of the

1989 Loma Prieta earthquake The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred on California's Central Coast on October 17 at local time. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz County, approximately northeast of Santa Cruz on a section of t ...

, but because telephone lines were down across the area, there wasn't much of a way for Johnson to communicate to his head coach

Claude Gilbert Claude L. Gilbert (born July 10, 1932) is an American former college football coach. He served as head football coach at San Diego State University from 1973 to 1980, and San Jose State University from 1984 to 1989, compiling a career record of 9 ...

. Gilbert however claimed that Johnson had already skipped 2 o'clock practice anyway to attend game 3 of the

1989 World Series The 1989 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1989 season. The 86th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Oakland Athletics and the Nat ...

. Nevertheless, his dismissal from the Spartans football program dropped Johnson's draft stock all the way to the 169th pick in the

1990 NFL Draft The 1990 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 22–23, 1990, at the Marriott Marq ...

by the

Professional career

Johnson played in the

1991 Pro Bowl The 1991 Pro Bowl was the NFL's 41st annual all-star game which featured the outstanding performers from the 1990 season. The game was played on Sunday, February 3, 1991, at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii before a crowd of 50,345. The final ...

. After playing for three seasons for the Cardinals, he was traded during the

1993 NFL Draft The 1993 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 25–26, 1993, at the Marriot Ma ...

to the New York Jets, in exchange for the Cardinals moving from the number 4 pick in the draft to the Jets' number 3 draft position. The Cardinals badly wanted

Garrison Hearst Gerard Garrison Hearst (born January 4, 1971) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons. He played college football for the University of Georgia, and was r ...

, who also played running back, so the Cardinals were willing to part with Johnson just to move up one draft spot. After arriving on the Jets, Johnny Johnson was named Jets team

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

in 1993 in a vote by his teammates. Johnson finished the season ranked second in the AFC in total

yards from scrimmage Yards from scrimmage is a gridiron football statistical measure. In the game of football, progress is measured by advancing the football towards the opposing team's goal line. Progress can be made during play by the offensive team by advancing t ...

. He was one of only two backs to lead his team in rushing and receptions. He became a free agent in 1995, and the Jets made him available for the

expansion draft An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or franchises. This occurs mainly in North American sports. One of the ways of stocking the new team or teams is an expansion ...

that year. Johnson considered signing with the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

. In April 1996, Johnson signed a two-year, $3-million contract with the 49ers; consequently, the 49ers waived

Dennis Brown Dennis Emmanuel Brown CD (1 February 1957 – 1 July 1999) was a Jamaican reggae singer. During his prolific career, which began in the late 1960s when he was aged eleven, he recorded more than 75 albums and was one of the major stars of l ...

to make

salary cap In professional sports, a salary cap (or wage cap) is an agreement or rule that places a limit on the amount of money that a team can spend on players' salaries. It exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both. Sever ...

room for Johnson.

NFL career statistics

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Johnny 1968 births Living people African-American players of American football American football running backs National Conference Pro Bowl players New York Jets players Sportspeople from Santa Clara, California Sportspeople from Santa Cruz, California Phoenix Cardinals players Players of American football from California San Francisco 49ers players San Jose State Spartans football players San Jose State Spartans men's basketball players American men's basketball players Santa Cruz High School alumni 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople