What Larry Johnson and Michael Vick Have in Common

I wanted to wait a day to weigh in on Larry Johnson's move to the Bengals. (For one, I needed to let all the comedy pros get their Chris Henry jokes out of the way so some actual football analysis could take place.) But I also wanted to make sense of exactly what Johnson's role will be in Cincinnati. Right now it doesn't sound like much.

Here are the facts: Johnson is 30. He's been worn down quite a bit due to heavy use -- he had more than 750 carries in the 2005 and 2006 seasons combined. This season, he's dropped off from a career average of 4.4 yards per carry to just 2.9. The Chiefs offense isn't exactly giving him room to run with its limited weapons, but Johnson hasn't really been the same back since 2006 when he carried it 416 times. So you could tell yourself the Chiefs cut him for using homophobic slurs -- both on Twitter and in the locker room -- but performance often masks ugliness off the field, and Johnson's performance wasn't doing enough covering up, so he was gone.

Now he arrives in Cincinnati in his worst season as a pro. The Bengals are experiencing what is nearly unprecedented prosperity. They've got the No. 11 rushing attack in the NFL, largely on the strength of Cedric Benson, another Bengals reclamation project. Where does Johnson fit?

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis had this to say on Monday:

“It would have zero affect on Cedric Benson, Bernard Scott or Brian Leonard,” Lewis said. “I’m very happy right now with what they’re doing and their roles and I want to see Bernard’s role continue to expand as it did yesterday.”

Does Johnson understand that he's been brought in to be a fourth running back? Judging from his tweets and posts to Facebook, he thinks he'll be doing quite a bit:

RT @ToonIcon: Me and Ocho Cinco!?!? " Come on Son!!!!"
RT @kb_kcstar: From Larry Johnson's Facebook: "Gonna gallop all over the Chiefs. Cleat prints on the chests. Mud in the face masks."

Was there some sort of miscommunication between Lewis and Johnson? Say this about some of the problem children the Bengals have taken on: at least they've shown some degree of humility and remorse. Chris Henry seems to have his life together, even if his forearm isn't. The same can be said for Cedric Benson.

In the end, this is my hunch: Maybe Johnson plays this week if Benson has to sit. Marvin Lewis certainly hasn't ruled out that possibility. But in the end, this will be a lot like the Michael Vick situation. Sure, I'm betting there will be a few people with signs at the next Bengals home game expressing their anger at Johnson's use of homophobic slurs, but it will be minimal, and then they'll go away. And if Benson returns in a timely manner, you'll probably see Johnson inactive for other games when Benson, Bernard Scott and Brian Leonard are healthy -- barring some major flashes of LJ's former self in practice. And much like Michael Vick and his token wildcat appearances, we'll largely forget he's even there.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.