Joseph Keyshawn Johnson (born July 22, 1972) is an American former professional football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons.
He played college football for the USC Trojans, and earned All-American honors twice. He was selected first overall by the New York Jets in the 1996 NFL draft. He also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dallas Cowboys, and Carolina Panthers. He was one of three wide receivers to be taken first overall in NFL draft history and the most recent. During his tenure with the Buccaneers, Johnson was a member of the team that won Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003.
He retired from football following the 2006 season, and spent seven years as a television broadcaster for the sports channel ESPN. He was one of the co-hosts of the FS1 weekday morning debate show Undisputed with Richard Sherman, Michael Irvin, and Skip Bayless. He has since joined Paul Pierce and Joy Taylor to co-host the FS1 weekday show Speak.
Johnson was born in Los Angeles, California. He attended Palisades High School for his sophomore and junior years and then Susan Miller Dorsey High School, also in Los Angeles, for his senior year. Though a standout prospect at football, Johnson's early life was plagued by gang crime and legal troubles. In eighth grade, he spent nine months in a California youth facility after being arrested for possession of marijuana, cocaine, and a concealed handgun. His low SAT scores forced him to start his college football career in community college.
In Johnson's first year at West Los Angeles College, he lasted just 8 games. Eventually he just stopped showing up for practice. "For years, I was the good kid, but I was curious and it eventually got the best of me," he later wrote. "I started hanging out with the wrong crowd and got myself into trouble." After sitting out the following year to get his affairs in order, Johnson returned to football in 1992, and performed well enough to earn himself a transfer to University of Southern California, where he played for coach John Robinson's USC Trojans football team in 1994 and 1995. In 1994, he finished with 66 catches for 1,362 yards and 9 touchdowns. In 1995, he finished with 102 catches for 1,434 yards and 7 touchdowns.
As a Trojan, he was twice recognized as an All-American selection. After the 1994 college season, Johnson helped lead the Trojans to a win in the 1995 Cotton Bowl Classic, after which he was named the game's Most Valuable Player. He was named Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year for the 1995 season. The Trojans then played in the 1996 Rose Bowl, during which Johnson caught 12 passes for a Rose Bowl record 216 yards and one touchdown in the Trojans' 41–32 victory over the Northwestern Wildcats. He was named the Player of the Game. He was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame on December 31, 2008.
While in college, Johnson appeared on the TV show Coach, as a player eligible for draft in the upcoming season. He flatly refused to be recruited to the fictional "Orlando Breakers" team for coach Hayden Fox, stating he would go to Canada to play first. Johnson graduated from USC with a B.A. in social sciences and history in 1997.
The New York Jets drafted Johnson with the first overall pick in the 1996 NFL draft. He was the third wide receiver selected with the number one overall pick, and the first since Irving Fryar was chosen by the New England Patriots in 1984. While in New York, he played three seasons (1997–1999) under Bill Parcells, who in two seasons would turnaround the Jets from 1–15 in 1996, Johnson's rookie year, to 9–7 in 1997, and 12–4 in 1998 and the franchise's first ever AFC East Division title.
In the 1996 season, Johnson had 63 receptions for 844 yards and eight touchdowns as a rookie.
In the 1997 season, Johnson had 70 receptions for 963 yards and five touchdowns.
In the 1998 season opener, Johnson had nine receptions for 126 yards and two touchdowns in the 36–30 overtime road loss to the San Francisco 49ers. In the 1998 season, Johnson had 83 receptions for 1,131 yards and ten touchdowns. He was named as a Pro Bowler for the first time.
In the 1999 season opener, Johnson had eight receptions for a career-high 194 yards and one touchdown in the 30–28 loss to the New England Patriots. In Week 12, he had 11 receptions for 144 yards and two touchdowns in the 28–20 win over the Miami Dolphins. In the 1999 season, Johnson had 89 receptions for 1,170 yards and eight touchdowns. He was named to his second Pro Bowl. In the Divisional Round against the Jacksonville Jaguars, he had nine receptions for 121 yards and one receiving touchdown to go with a rushing touchdown, a fumble recovery, and an intercepted pass on defense.
Johnson was traded on April 12, 2000, to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for two first round draft choices (13th – John Abraham – and 27th – Anthony Becht – overall) in the 2000 NFL draft. Soon after Johnson arrived in Tampa Bay, they signed him to an 8-year, $56 million contract extension with the Buccaneers that made him the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL. In Week 9 of the 2000 season, he had six receptions for 121 yards and a touchdown in a 41–13 win over the Minnesota Vikings. In Week 16 against the St. Louis Rams, he had seven receptions for 116 yards and two touchdowns in the 38–35 victory. In the 2000 season, he had 71 receptions for 874 yards and eight touchdowns.
In Week 5 of the 2001 season, Johnson had eight receptions for 140 yards in the 31–28 overtime loss on the road against the Tennessee Titans. In Week 6, he had ten receptions for 159 yards in a 17–10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. In the 2001 season, Johnson had 106 receptions for 1,266 yards and one touchdown in 15 games. He was named to his third Pro Bowl.
At that time he was joining a team that had fallen one game short of the Super Bowl the previous season. In Week 5 of the 2002 season, he had six receptions for 131 yards and a touchdown in the 20–6 win over the Atlanta Falcons. In Week 9, he had nine receptions for 133 yards and two touchdowns in a 38–24 win over the Minnesota Vikings. In Week 16, he had eight receptions for 132 yards and a touchdown in a 17–7 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. In 2002 Johnson went on to win a Super Bowl with the Buccaneers after the arrival of new head coach Jon Gruden, who succeeded Tony Dungy. Johnson had 76 catches for 1,088 yards and five touchdowns; in the playoffs, he had eight catches for 125 yards and a touchdown against the Eagles, then had six grabs for 69 yards in the Super Bowl.
In Week 9 of the 2003 season, Johnson had ten receptions for 123 yards in a 17–14 loss to the New Orleans Saints. His bitter relationship with Gruden (illustrated by a video clip of him yelling at Gruden on the sidelines) led to his de-activation for the final seven games of the 2003 season. He had 45 receptions for 600 yards and three touchdowns in ten games in the 2003 season. The following offseason, he was traded to the Dallas Cowboys, where he was reunited with Bill Parcells, his coach while he was with the New York Jets.
On March 19, 2004, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers traded him to the Dallas Cowboys for Joey Galloway, who the Cowboys had also traded two first round picks to acquire. Reunited with his former coach Bill Parcells, Johnson lived up to his advance billing for the Cowboys in 2004, leading the team in receiving yards and tying for the lead in touchdown catches while taking over a leadership role in the locker room and on the field. He had two games on the season going over 100 yards.
In Week 6 of the 2005 season, Johnson had eight receptions for 120 yards in a 16–13 overtime loss to the New York Giants. In the 2005 season, Johnson had 71 receptions for 839 yards and six touchdowns.