United Group Insurance

Chiefs’ Johnson finally reaching elite status

Sports

August 30th, 2011 by Ric Hanson

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Derrick Johnson may finally be on the cusp of stardom. It’s only taken six years, 90 games and countless headaches to get there. The Kansas City linebacker is coming off a breakthrough season in which he had a career-high 94 tackles and helped the Chiefs win the AFC West title. It was the kind of season that fans have been expecting of Johnson since he was their first-round draft pick in 2005. Johnson acknowledged that he must become the leader of a young but talented defense. Even though he’s just 28, there are only a handful of players on the entire roster who have been in the league longer than him.