Health concerns prompt Pats' Johnson to call it quits

10:47 AM EDT on Friday, July 29, 2005

BY TOM E. CURRAN
Journal Sports Writer

Late in the 2003 season, after a Patriots win at Gillette Stadium, middle linebacker Ted Johnson stood at his locker dressing slowly. Concentration was etched on his face. When asked about the game, he spoke slowly and quietly. His answers were decipherable, but a little disjointed.

He was asked if he was OK.

"Yeah. I'm all right. I just got dinged," he answered.

He seemed almost sorry that he caused concern.

"Are you getting a ride home?" he was asked.

"Don't worry, my man," he said, smiling and clapping a hand on the reporter's shoulder. "I'll be fine."

Johnson, 32, retired yesterday, his years of work as a human battering ram having exacted their toll. In a statement, he said, "I can no longer ignore the severe short- and long-term complications of the concussive head injuries I have sustained over the years."

Last evening, in a conference call, Johnson elaborated.

"Something didn't sit right with my body the whole offseason. I did go for a general physical to my personal physician," he said. "He found enough evidence to have concerns about the long-term effects from head trauma."

Johnson eventually had an MRI done on his brain, which showed some damage and ulitmately convinced him to retire.

"I ignored it for a long time, guys," he said. "My mind and my spirit wanted to (keep playing) so bad but my body knew it wasn't going to get it done.

"Quite honestly it hit me like a bolt of lightning. I couldn't ignore this."

Johnson cited symptoms such as irritability, cognitive clarity, trouble sleeping and memory loss as things he's experienced.

"It was strongly urged and suggested that I should consider the ramifications (of continuing my career)," he added. "Could I still play? I could still play, but I open myself up to some potentially damaging long-term health issues. I love this game. But at the end of the day when I look at my wife and kids, those are the most important things to me."

Asked how many diagnosed concussions he's had, Johnson could only guess that it was around six. But he didn't include times that he was on the field and "couldn't focus, when it felt like my head was still moving. It happened more than it should have and I maybe let it go and maybe didn't say anything. It happened more frequently than I care to remember, quite honestly." So on the day he was to report for his 11th season, Johnson instead called it a career.

"I wish the timing were different because I feel like my coaches and teammates deserve better," he said. "Sometimes those things are out of your hands."

His announcement caught the Pats flat-footed.

"Although his retirement is unexpected, we thoroughly respect his decision and support him as he moves on," said Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. "It goes without saying, but Ted Johnson is a class act. He was a solid contributor to this defense and the New England Patriots organization his entire career. Ted's signature was a work ethic and toughness that were second to none. He retires a champion."

Johnson was a throwback at the middle linebacker position. Where many of the game's more ballyhooed inside backers rely heavily on defensive linemen to keep fullbacks, centers and guards off them, Johnson took them all head-on all game long.

"Ted was the ultimate football player," said Patriots linebacker and special-teams ace Larry Izzo. "Whenever he walked off the field, you know that he gave everything he had. He looked like a warrior coming off, blood spattered on his pants. The style of play he had is something we all strive to do."

Former Dallas Cowboys star running back Emmitt Smith once called Johnson one of the toughest middle linebackers he faced. Johnson seemed to also make a dozen memorable stops on Pittsburgh's Jerome Bettis throughout his career. But the hit that may best illustrate Johnson's style came in December 2003, when he took on Dolphins guard Jamie Nails head-on. The impact of the hit split Nails' helmet in two.

Growing up in Carlsbad, Calif., Johnson didn't have an easy home life. He took refuge in surfing and weightlifting. He's said that weightlifting (and later football) saved him from what he believed would have been a bleak future. Two years ago, he donated money to his high school to build a new weight room.

Johnson was a second-round pick of the Patriots out of the University of Colorado in 1995. After three very good seasons to start his career, he seemed poised on the cusp of stardom when he tore his biceps in the 13th game of the season at Pittsburgh. The next summer, he tore the biceps on his other arm, short-circuiting that campaign.

He would be dogged by injuries to his shoulders, hamstrings and knees throughout the rest of his career, but every time it seemed he was fading, he'd go through a renaissance. Last year, he rolled up 112 tackles, playing in all 16 games for the first time since 1997.

Johnson is married and has four children. The youngest two are a toddler and an infant. He plays golf, works with troubled teens, scuba dives and is a voracious reader who used to favor romance novels. His father, who owns a restaurant in the Houston suburb of Tomball, Texas, reveled in the attention his son got when the Patriots played in Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston.

Johnson said that his father, who used to sell marine equipment in Southern California and never played sports, was taking his son's decision very hard.

"It's a very emotional thing," Johnson said. "I don't need pity or sympathy, but when you've been doing something since your freshman year of high school and had a way of life for so long it's a very difficult transition emotionally. I'll miss people telling me how long they had season tickets. I'll miss talking about how I think something will go. . . . My son, it's just tearing him apart. He thinks he can always run through the locker room and see Willie (McGinest), Vrabes (Mike Vrabel) and Tedy (Bruschi). It's a very difficult piece of it but that's life, we all go through that."

Johnson lauded the Kraft family for the way he was treated throughout his career. They in turn lauded him for what he represented on the field and off.

Johnson said that Bruschi's decision to sit out the season after suffering a stroke last year didn't prompt him to retire.

"It had no bearing at all on what I was going through," he said. "What I was going through was my own stuff. What happened to Tedy wasn't the impetus at all for me looking into my concussions further. The way I was feeling I felt -- unfortunately -- long before Tedy had the stroke."

So a consummate professional and a respectable man retired, as Belichick said, "a champion."

To Johnson, that means something.

"For most guys it ends with bitterness and sadness. I never ever wanted to feel that way. . . . I'd love to still be playing. If I could play 10 more years, I would. If my body would let me, I would."

TED JOHNSON

BIO

Height: 6-4; Weight: 253 pounds; Birthdate: 12/4/72; Experience: 10 years, all with Patriots; Drafted: 57th pick in 1995 out of Colorado Alameda; Games played/started: 125/106; Playoff games played/started: 14/7

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Has 866 tackles (577 solos), including 11.5 sacks, 6 forced fumbles and 7 fumble recoveries during his 10-year playing career.

Saw action in all 16 games in 2004, while starting the final 15 contests at inside linebacker. His 15 starts last season were his most since 1997.

Finished third on the team with 112 tackles (74 solo) in 2004, his highest single-season total since he amassed 142 tackles in 1998. He had a season-high 14 stops against Pittsburgh (10/31/04).

Finished second on the team with 96 tackles (62 solos) in 2002.

Totaled 46 tackles (33 solos) during the 2001 regular season, and three tackles, including half-a-sack, during the postseason. He was one of eight Patriots who played in both Super Bowl XXXI against Green Bay and Super Bowl XXXVI against St. Louis.

Led the team with three fumble recoveries in 2000.

Had consecutive-games streak stopped at 55 when he tore a pectoral muscle at Pittsburgh (12/06/98).

Recorded a career-high 17 tackles (10 solo) at Buffalo (11/15/98).

Led the team in tackles during the 1996 (115 tackles) and 1997 (127) seasons.

Provided a game-high 11 stops in the 1996 AFC Championship Game victory over Jacksonville (01/12/97), limiting Natrone Means to 43 yards rushing in the game.

In 1996, he made the transition from inside linebacker in the 3-4 defense to middle linebacker in the 4-3 and led the team in tackles with 115 (87 solos).

Made his NFL debut in the 1995 season opener and combined with Reggie White on a sack of Vinny Testaverde in a 17-14 come-from-behind victory over Cleveland (9/3/95).

SINGLE-GAME CAREER HIGHS

Regular Season

Tackles: 17 vs. Buffalo (11/15/98)

Solos: 11 vs. Tampa Bay (11/16/97)

Assists: 8 vs. Buffalo (12/26/99) at Miami (10/25/98)

Sacks: 2 vs. Baltimore (1/2/00), at New Orleans (10/04/98), vs. N.Y. Jets (9/14/97)

Interceptions: 1 vs. San Diego (12/1/96)

Postseason

Tackles: 11 vs. Jacksonville (1/12/97)

Solos: 9 vs. Green Bay (1/26/97)

Assists: 4 vs. Pittsburgh (1/23/05)

Sacks: 1 vs. Miami (12/28/97), vs. Pittsburgh (1/5/97)