Retired since 2008, Johnson says he’s happier today — mentoring young quarterbacks and coaching his sons in football and basketball — than he was during his 17 seasons in the NFL. He won a Super Bowl and made enough money to spend most of his time with his family — wife, Nikki, and their sons, ages 10 and 12.
But it all came with a price, one that more than 200 rookies will begin to face this summer after this week’s NFL draft. …
Johnson’s pain could be classified as chronic as early as 2002, when he says he started receiving injections of the painkiller Toradol before games.
Commonly used in operating rooms, Toradol is a non-narcotic approved by the FDA in 1989. The drug is not physically addictive, but it was the subject of a lawsuit filed in 2011 in which a group of players said NFL teams inappropriately administered the drug en masse before games while neglecting to tell players it could mask their ability to self-assess injuries, such as concussions.
Johnson says he needed the drug to numb pain from tendonitis in his throwing elbow and shoulder, as well as three major injuries.
In 1998, during the second game of his final season in Minnesota, a second-half play was whistled dead for a pre-snap penalty. The offensive line heard the whistle over the raucous dome crowd. The defensive line did not. One rusher hit Johnson high, the other low, breaking his right ankle.
In 1999, Johnson had surgery to correct microfractures in his left knee. Two months later, doctors went back in to correct the problem. That summer with the Redskins, he needed to wear three rubber knee braces on top of one another “to get any kind of push,” he says.
In the 14th game of the 2002 season vs. the Lions, Johnson scrambled for a few extra yards on third and 10, hoping to set up a game-winning field goal. Detroit defensive tackle Shaun Rogers — all 320 pounds of him — caught Johnson 3 yards downfield and fell firmly on top of him, cracking the transverse processes in his vertebra.
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5 Comments
There’s a lot of brave people behind a keyboard! Brad is as good a person as I know. I remember playing basketball with him in high school and going to his football games. He had a different level of commitment and toughness. He’s loyal to our community through Owen High School and the Eblen charities to name two. I know he doesn’t want to world to view him as weak. The point of him telling his story is to get more attention to the efforts of the NFL to make it a safer game. Attack someone who was born on 3rd base & thought they hit a triple not the one who actually hit the triple.
They’re going to pussify the game of football. It will be boring and unwatchable in 5 years.
How does someone get born on 3rd base if they don’t let pregnant women out on the field?
It must not be too bad. He’s allowing his kids to play football. It gets really tiresome listening to the millionaire cry babies. They know the risks when they sign up. Half of the NFL would be working menial jobs if it weren’t for the game of football. Suck it up butter cup!
Don’t worry Brad. I just called the Waaaaaambulance for you