Solomon: Andre Johnson's right, so don't take it personally

So Andre Johnson is back, just as most figured he would be and a few days earlier than we predicted.

Did you get over your little panic attack, Houston?

Many of you took the news that Johnson didn't show up for voluntary meetings earlier this week with the right attitude: Real practice begins in July, games in September. Others of you took it as evidence that the Texans won't make the playoffs.

The worst among you took it as another slap in the face from a rich athlete whining about not making enough money.

Amazing, since Johnson, who will be on the field with the Texans at today's voluntary workout, hasn't whined, complained or otherwise said a word about money.

If you wonder why athletes sometimes don't seem to care about what fans think, check out what some fans have said about Johnson the last few days.

We're talking about a hard-working wide receiver who has done just about everything right in his seven-year career. He has done more for the Texans than the Texans have done for him.

What's fair really isn't
Other than pay him quite well to do a job — and for the past couple of years he has done it better than anybody else on the planet — what have the Texans really done for Johnson? They've stuck him with a group of co-workers who weren't good enough to make the playoffs.
So why wouldn't he just leave and go play somewhere else? Well, he can't because he has five years left on a contract. Ah, the NFL contract.
NFL contracts are like marriages in which only one person has to make vows.

Unlike those in professional baseball, basketball and hockey, NFL contracts are largely non-guaranteed.

Judging from some of the nasty correspondence I've received on Johnson, many of you don't know that if the Texans were unhappy with Johnson they could send him on his way without having to pay him another dime.

The money he is due per the contract in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 will go to Johnson only if the Texans decide to give it to him.
Yeah, that's a fair contract all right.

So if Bob McNair can rip up the contract whenever he likes, why can't Johnson request it be modified to his liking? Never hurts to ask.
Some of you even claimed it is immoral for Johnson to ask for a raise, as if his position in the saintly occupation of pass catcher precludes him from seeking a bump in pay on occasion. How un-American is that?

If lazy Lisa, three cubicles over, made more than your hard-working self, wouldn't you ask for a raise?

Have you ever sought a better interest rate on a loan? A better cellular phone deal? Why would you do such an immoral thing? Didn't you sign a contract? Please.

No offense taken
It is only smart that an NFL player should use leverage on those rare occasions he accidentally has some. One day the Texans will tell Johnson he can no longer work for them, and it won't matter how many years he has left on his contract then.

This is a good spot for a side note: Johnson hasn't broken any of the terms of his contract.

Missing three days of these unofficial practices is viewed by the league as a milder transgression than wearing the wrong color shoestrings in a game. A player would be fined for the latter.

With participating media pushing fans to attack players for doing nothing more than conducting solid business, NFL management doesn't even have to do its own dirty work when it comes to these types of contract discussions.

Johnson isn't a bad guy or poor leader because of what he did this week.

Know this: If the Texans had a few more Andre Johnsons, the words Super Bowl and Texans wouldn't draw laughter when they showed up in the same sentence. But there are only a few Johnson-level players in the NFL.

One e-mailer thought a painter signing a contract to do work at his house was an apt comparison to Johnson's situation with the Texans.
Ludicrous.

Johnson isn't some house painter easily replaced by thumbing through the Yellow Pages. He's Picasso.

Use leverage when can
There are roughly 250 people who do what Johnson does in the NFL, perhaps five who do it anywhere near as well as he does.

Does that make him special? Well, yes, for the brief period in his life when he will be the best in the world at what he does.

Better that he asks for a raise now, while he is the best, than wait for the Texans to take money off the table when he no longer is. (And one day that will happen.)

I don't understand why any of you would see that as a slap in your face.

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



(chron.com)