Twelve years. Has it really been that long? Twelve years of training camp, 12 years of season openers, 12 years of varying levels of optimism that at least so far have turned into varying levels of disappointment.
Derrick Johnson has seen so much with the Chiefs, and in the NFL. None of his teammates have been in the league longer. None of his teammates have seen their slice of the NFL world change more.
In Johnson’s first season, middle linebackers were defined by run stuffers like London Fletcher, Zach Thomas and Derrick Brooks. Brian Urlacher was in his prime.