Wow, that sounds like one really irritating duo of tv analysts. I wonder if he'll do a follow up interview with Dwayne Jarret.

Did not see that happening.

I guess he wants to go a team in contention if he's going to keep playing. I wonder why the Giants don't try to get him.

This might be the biggest non-story ever!

Guess he misgauged the market for his services. Wonder if as a media guy he's going to be making that 2.5+ million he thought he was worth as a player. LOL.

The Tennessean is quoting Keyshawn's agent: "[The Titans] offered in the $7 million-$8 million range over two (years) with a substantial portion of it guaranteed." Link in name.

Seems like way too much to me, although (a) the agent could be lying, and (b) I think the Titans would've still been way under the cap.

#2. Probably because the Giants aren't a team in contention.

Is it just me, or have we seen more and more players retire directly into broadcasting? It seems like teams have to compete with the networks as much as they do with each other, at least when it comes to older players with broadcasting potential.

#6 - Hey Bill, wasn't Harold Reynolds recently canned for some allegedly inappropriate conduct?

"s it just me, or have we seen more and more players retire directly into broadcasting?"

Have we seen any of them not suck at it?

RE 10 : Sterling Sharpe? Steve Young? I'm not sure if they went [i]directly[/i] into boradcasting, but I think they're both pretty good. Although Young isn't the best speaker.

Steve Young is amazing on the radio, probably one of the funniest story tellers I've heard. I don't get to see him on T.V., though.

"I wonder why the Giants don’t try to get him."

With Burress and Shockey already on the roster, the Giants and Eli don't really need another receiver whining about not getting the ball enough. And I don't think Keyshawn and Coughlin would be a good fit, although it might make for good reality TV.

"Hey Bill, wasn’t Harold Reynolds recently canned for some allegedly inappropriate conduct?"

Yes, which explains why the details of his contract are on Smoking Gun.

10: Didn't Marshall Faulk and Deon Sanders fill in when Dick Vermeil lost his voice? I remember them being pretty good too. Aikman was good as well until Joe Buck influenced him to be a company guy.

As much as I hate Keyshawn he is a MASSIVE upgrade over Irvin.

He wasn't half bad during the draft and my guess is that it's a lot easier to prepare for a week in the NFL season than the draft.

/Curiously waiting for his debut.

9, 13: And the Deadspin crack about Boston Market

I don't know, its hard to replace Michael Irvin. Does Keyshawn have a purple suit?

No one person can really replace Michael Irvin. All you can do is hope to contain him.

#8: Remember when Boomer Esiason retired the year after leading the league in passer rating (in half a season) to go into the MNF booth? He only lasted a year at ABC, and later was really bitter at the network because he felt like he could still have been playing, but retired early for a long-term career in a prime job.

I look forward to his inane jabberings.

I wish the Bears would have made a run at him.

Just give him the damn microphone!

Can't blame a guy for deciding he'd rather take big paycheck for sitting and talking in a comfortable t.v. studio, because he couldn't get a big enough paycheck, in his mind, to get physically pounded on a football field. He can't be worse than Irvin, and I could never stand Sterling Sharpe shouting at me.

23- Well put. I respect Johnson for saying "this is my price, if no one wants to pay it, I'll retire". It's his life.

Keyshawn was really good during the NFL Draft, and I look forward to seeing him on ESPN.

Six years ago who would have guessed that Terry Glenn would still be playing, and Keyshawn, without suffering a major injury, would not be?

ESPN's downward slide continues. Do more people really like watching the loudest, most in-your-face ex-players (Keyshawn, Irvin, Sharpe) do football analysis more than the most intelligent ex-football players (Jaws, Young)?

25-ESPN obviously has a pro-receiver bias.

new orleans should pick him up !!

This reminds me, someone who is not retiring is Vinny Testaverde.

Vinny has clearly gone insane.Is Troy Brown retiring, or will he make another go at it with the Patriots as special teams captain or some such thing?

"Do more people really like watching the loudest, most in-your-face ex-players (Keyshawn, Irvin, Sharpe) do football analysis more than the most intelligent ex-football players (Jaws, Young)?"

In what universe is Steve Young a more intelligent analyst than Keyshawn or Sharpe? His cup does not exactly overfloweth with wisdom.

Irvin was one of the few players-turned-broadcasters who was actually worth a shit, because he was entertaining and ridiculous. I dunno what you guys have against him.

#29: Don't know about anyone else, but MY biggest problem is that he's as dumb as a bag of hammers.

If I want incoherent shouting and the occasional pratfall, there are plenty of winos downtown who'll do that for free.

Re: 29 - "...he was entertaining and ridiculous."

Well, you're certainly half right.

I don't think I can top #30, but my issue was that Irvin always seemed to take the unpopular position on issues (actually a good thing) but was never up to the task of presenting a logical, coherant case for it.

Let's face it, we all stopped watching ESPN looking for intelligent, reasoned criticism and analysis years ago. Might as well have another loudmouth braggart. It won't hurt their quality at all.

I'm not sure how this whole loudmouth stigma got attached to Keyshawn Johnson. Is it because of the book he wrote? Sure, he's narcissistic, but from all the interviews and television appearances I've seen of him, he's always been very articulate, unlike Irvin or either of the Sharpe brothers, who tend to fumble over words and resort to exaggerated enthusiasm. I remember watching him speak with Cris Colinsworth regularly on the HBO NFL warm-up show a few years back and being very impressed with how he wasn't there just to talk about how good his own team was, how much well they practiced that week, etc...
I think he's a good choice.

#33 - I think you nailed it. I saw Keyshawn interviewed by Steven A. Smith and KJ struck me as pretty smart, maybe not the most articulate but still a brighter bulb than alot. He's grown up since his Jets days, it took some humility to take the #2 spot in Carolina.

On a similar note, I saw James Brown (CBS) doing an interview with Comcast the other day. He's brilliant, Fox was dumb to let him get away. He used words that Bill Buckley never heard before.

33: I don't get why people let something that happened in the last century taint their opinion of Johnson, either.

Some of my less intelligent fellow Saints fans said that they didn't want KJ because he is a "cancer" and isn't a team player. How can a guy who played well for Parcells and Dungy be those things, and who could a guy who signed with a team in order to be the #2 WR be those things? They like to point at the Bucs, but it seems clear to me that the problem was the egomaniac with a Napolean complex on the sideline, not the wide receiver in question...

Don't be surprised if Raiders have to put WR on taxi squad and K Johnson comes out of retirment to play final half or month ogf season with Raiders. He go back to Cali to finish career and would like to play for USC man.

I agree he is quite articulate and doesn't come across like a moron like Irvin.

As for why people think he is that way, it's mostly from his Jets' days, though it sure didn't help that his main introduction to the greater sporting public came in the SI cover story where they related stories about him running into the stands after TDs and getting a hot dog and things of that nature. (If I recall correctly, that was during his JuCo days prior to USC.)

How did the Texans not go get him? Can anyone tell me who their #2 reciever is? or 3?