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It's the offseason for most teams, so you can just about guarantee that players coming off good seasons will be angling for new contracts. The first such player, according to a story in the Nashville Tennessean, is the Titans' Chris Johnson.
Johnson tells the paper, "Hopefully they’ll want to give me a new deal. I think I deserve to be the highest paid running back in the league, or even the highest paid offensive player besides the quarterback."
It's a weird bit of passive-aggressiveness by Johnson, who goes on to say, "But it’s not like I am not going out in the media saying, ‘Pay me, I want a new deal now’" -- in an interview with the media. So actually, it's a lot like that.
The rest of Johnson's quote downplays the matter somewhat ("I am just saying, if they were to pay me, I want that. Hopefully they want that, too"), but it's clear that Johnson, who just completed his second season and whose rookie contract runs through 2012, is looking for a hefty raise. There's not much question he's underpaid, with a base salary of just $560,000 for the upcoming season, but it's also unlikely the Titans will want to make him the highest paid running back in the league at this point, either.
It's awfully early to worry too much about this, but it's a reminder that every MVP type of season, especially with players working on their first contract, has consequences. This isn't the last we'll hear of this from Johnson, nor the last such story that will crop up over the next few months.
--Andy Richardson
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