Real Football: Chris Johnson, ALS and reconciling the dark side of football

Heartbreaking news stopped all of us in our tracks this week. Chris Johnson — the breathtaking Tennessee Titans running back — revealed on “Good Morning America” that he has ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He was diagnosed in 2025 at the age of 39.

The disease is progressing rapidly. Johnson communicated during the ABC interview via an eye-tracking, speech-generating device. The entire interview is worth your time.

It’s devastating. It’s courageous. Johnson vows to fight the disease and raise as much awareness as he possibly can.

At one point during the conversation, Johnson notes that he could tell something was wrong when he had weakness in his right hand and didn’t feel as strong. His wife, Brittany, thought he might be dealing with the effects of a 10-year NFL career. She thought initially that it might’ve been a pinched nerve. During the segment, Michael Strahan cites this as a case of “sporadic ALS,” adding that 90 percent of ALS cases are random. The former pro Strahan did not broach the connection between the disease and the sport at all during the interview, but it’s also true that the risk of NFL players getting ALS are nearly four times as high as the general populace. Here’s that study of 19,423 players from the National Library of Medicine.

On this episode of Real Football, we try to make sense of this all. Honesty, as always, sure would be the best policy for a league that has historically done everything in its power to distract from the connection between the sport and brain trauma.

My co-host Jim Monos also dusts off memories of scouting Johnson out of East Carolina when he was with the Saints. Monos even threw Johnson passes at his pro day.

Johnson was a special talent. In Year 1, he led the Titans to a 13-3 record. In Year 2, he amassed 2,509 scrimmage yards — still an NFL record. His electric speed was unmatched.

Later on the pod, we discuss whether individual talents can still single-handedly take over games with defenses so hellbent on eliminating big plays.

We also discuss Jayden Daniels’ next move with the Washington Commanders and Monos gets a few more shots in on Jerry Rice, amongst other topics.

Appreciate all for watching, listening and sharing.

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