Andre Johnson shows he's a true professional

The Texans' Andre Johnson skipped the first three days of OTA's. And he was miserable. He knew where he wanted to be. He also knows he's grossly underpaid by just about anyone's standards, considering what he's accomplished on the field, and what he means to the Texans' success going forward.

Andre Johnson isn't just a world class wide receiver. He's a world class person. Yeah there are those that can argue that he's been paid pretty well. And then there's the whole "he's got 5 years left on his contract" argument. But he's out-performed his contract by a ton.
Let's look at some comparisons:
(All dollar amounts are estimated from several sources and are for illustrative purposes only!)

Arizona's Larry Fitzgerald signed a 4 year deal in 2008 worth an estimated $40MM. In the first two years, with bonuses, he's earned about $32MM. During those two years he recorded 193 receptions. That comes out to about $165,803.10 per catch.

The Texans' own Andre Davis inked a 4 year deal in 2008 worth about $16MM, of which he has earned about $10.1MM in the first two years. During that span he's caught 19 receptions, on which he's earned a whopping $531,578.95 each.

Then there's poor Andre Johnson. Now you find out why he's not happy. Maybe not with the Texans organization. Maybe just with his uncle...er...his "agent," that is. More on that in a sec. AJ inked an 8 year deal in 2007 worth $60MM. That's 20 million and 4 years more than Fitzgerald's deal. In the first 3 seasons of AJ's deal he's earned a total of about $26MM. In that same span he's recorded 276 receptions. Ok, all you math geniuses know where I'm going with this. For AJ's 276 receptions, he's earned a paltry $94,202.90 per catch. I know that's still a lot of money, but not by pro-football standards. And every catch AJ makes is vital to the Texans' success.

Yet, instead of throwing a temper tantrum, instead of sitting on the couch in the nice A/C playing his X-Box, he still comes out to voluntary practices. Yeah he skipped the first 3 while he thought about it. But that nagging desire to be there kept eating away at him. So he did the right thing and came to practice.

To me, that shows what a true professional Andre Johnson is. Since day one of his career with the Texans, he's continually shown, on and off the field, what a professional athlete, what a role model, is supposed to look like. He's shown how they should work, how they should perform, and how they should act.

Johnson hired Houston-based agent Kennard McGuire on Friday. The same agent that inked Andre Davis' deal. The same agent that represents Brandon Marshall, T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Torry Holt. That tells me maybe AJ was unhappy with his agent more than the organization. We may never know, but one thing is certain. It's now time for the Texans, as an organization, to reward his performance, his leadership, his professionalism, and pay him what he is worth.

Like Craig Biggio was for the Astros. Like Hakeem Olajuwon was for the Rockets. Like Earl Campbell of the Oilers. Andre Johnson is professionalism defined. And I'm glad he's a Texan.

Click here to order Andre Johnson's proCane Rookie Card.



(chron.com)