Derrick Johnson retires from NFL, reflects on football career

I still remember watching the grainy highlights on a Recruits in Review video VHS tape featuring a young greyhound linebacker from Waco. He was tall and lean - barely 200 pounds as a senior - but the speed with which he played the game made my jaw drop. At first, I thought the highlights had been sped up, but they weren’t. The young LB was just moving at a different speed from every one else on the field. He had a first step that would make Allen Iverson blush and a basset hound’s nose for the football.

His name was Derrick Johnson and he’s still the best Longhorn LB I’ve ever put my eyes on.

After an All-American career at Texas, Johnson was a perennial NFL pro bowler who played 14 seasons in the NFL, the vast bulk of it with the Kansas City Chiefs where he served as the lifeblood of their defense.

That’s our DJ.

All the best to a Longhorn Legend.