Chris Johnson was 'disgusted' with Tennessee Titans for long time. 10 years later, he's at peace

He wanted to stay. That, in retrospect, was the problem. He wouldn't have been so angry if that wasn't the case.

Ten years ago, on April 4, 2014, the Tennessee Titans released running back Chris Johnson — one of the most electrifying, dizzying, blink-and-you'll-miss-him ballcarriers of his era, or any era. After six 1,000-yard seasons, three Pro Bowls and the most productive year in NFL history by scrimmage yards, Johnson's tenure with the Titans ended acrimoniously.

A decade later, as Johnson prepares for his induction into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, Johnson tells The Tennessean he's processed a lot of anger about those final days with the Titans.

"It took a while. A while. At one point I was really disgusted with Tennessee," Johnson says. "It was bad. It was bad. But eventually, I think (Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk) reached out. After talking to Miss Amy and us establishing a relationship and us talking and stuff like that, I had to let it go."

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The end of the Chris Johnson saga with the Tennessee Titans

Johnson's 2013 season was a disappointment. He averaged 3.9 yards per carry, ranking 30th in the NFL despite receiving the league's sixth-most carries. Rumors swirled about whether Johnson, who signed a massive extension after holding out for one in 2011, should take a pay cut. Publicly, he said he wouldn't. He tells The Tennessean now the Titans never approached him or his agent with the idea behind-the-scenes.

Complicating matters further, Johnson played through a meniscus injury from Week 3 of the 2013 season on. Doctors gave him the choice to have surgery and miss 5-6 weeks or grit through and put off the surgery until the offseason. He chose the latter, then felt he was being punished by his own team for having a poor season when the team knew he'd played nearly the whole year hobbled but didn't address the injury publicly.

"If anybody had called me upstairs or talked to my agent, it was certain things we could’ve talked about or discussed or figured it out because I wanted to play for Tennessee my whole entire career," Johnson said. "I think that was a big business thing that I had to learn in my career. Probably if I could go back and do it again, I would probably have the surgery instead of playing through it. Because it didn’t help out anyways."

Derrick Henry, the Tennessee Titans and deja vu

History seldom repeats itself with the kind of clock-like precision as it does for the Titans. Ten years before cutting Johnson, the 2004 Titans parted ways with all-time franchise rushing leader Eddie George. Ten years after cutting Johnson — just last month — the Titans lost all-time franchise touchdowns leader Derrick Henry to the Baltimore Ravens.

Johnson is hesitant to compare his situation to Henry's. He doesn't know the behind-the-scenes machinations that led to the split. There's an obvious difference between Henry leaving as a free agent and Johnson being pushed out the door with years left on his contract.

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But the similarities are there. Like Henry, Johnson's tenure ended amid a culture shift where a new coach came in and built a roster that de-emphasized building around a running back.

The culture shift didn't stick after Johnson's ousting, of course. Within two years, the Titans were back to their "exotic smashmouth" ways. By 2018, Henry was a star. By 2020, he'd broken Johnson's franchise single-season rushing record.

Luckily by then, Johnson had made his peace.

Chris Johnson and the Titans make up

Johnson signed a one-day contract to officially retire with the Titans in April 2019. Johnson says Adams Strunk and the Titans made first contact, and he realized he had no reason to stay mad.

The Titans are still his favorite team. He comes to games when he can and watches on TV when he can't. He says Nashville will always be his second home.

These days he operates rental properties in Orlando, catering to tourists looking for a place to stay on trips to Disney World. But he can't get the idea of a Titans reunion out of his head.

"Whether it’s scouting or being involved some type of way, I want to be involved some type of way in the organization with the Titans," Johnson said. "I see a lot of other teams are doing that with Eli Manning and Frank Gore and those types of guys. I like Tennessee so much and things like that, I would love to be able to have one of those type of job titles or those situations in Nashville with the Titans."

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Johnson is being inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame on July 20 at the Omni Nashville Downtown.

Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick atnsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.