Kansas City Chiefs Release Running Back Larry Johnson After Gay Slurs

Larry Johnson just bit the dust with the Kansas City Chiefs. The team management has confirmed Monday that they had run out of patience with the running back due to his off-the-field problems and released him on the day he was due to come back from his second suspension in a year. This guy is a troublemaker and simply not worth the headache. Johnson was 75 yards away from breaking Priest Holmes' team rushing record. Johnson, a No. 1 draft pick out of Penn State in 2003, has been dogged by often angry and sullen behavior and was frequently at odds with coaches and fans. The straw that broke the camel's back, came on October 25 when he posted on his Twitter account several insult to fans, questioned coach Todd Haley's credentials and used a gay slur. To make matters worse, he repeated the slur the next day to reporters and was suspended for two weeks.

Johnson was the subject of an online petition last week calling on the Chiefs not to let him break the team rushing record. He was never a fan favorite and his apology for the online comments came almost exactly one year after issuing a similar apology for alleged incidents involving women in Kansas City night clubs. The guy has had a volatile career and he was just not worth the hassle to the team. He was more of a distraction than anything else.

Johnson was benched for three straight games in 2008 by then-coach Herm Edwardds for violating team rules. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell suspended him a fourth game for violating the league's player conduct policy. There's more. He was later sentenced to two years' probation after pleading guilty to two counts of disturbing the peace. One woman accused him of throwing a drink on her and another said he had pushed her head at a Kansas City night spot. A judge suspended the sentence and said he would remove the guilty plea from the public record if Johnson has no further legal problems during probation.

Sorry, but he deserves the hand he was dealt and he needs to get an epiphany really fast and change his ways. The reality is that had he used derogatory statements about blacks, the reaction would have been the same -- release him.

Photo credit: Kansas City Chiefs, Larry Johnson