Chris Johnson’s ALS diagnosis has reopened a hard conversation around football, and the reaction to one simple question showed just how far that conversation still has to go.
Johnson is now the second prominent Titan to be diagnosed with ALS, following Tim Shaw. The news also landed in the shadow of another painful development: after he died in 2023, Frank Wycheck was diagnosed posthumously with Stage 3 CTE.
Those stories don’t exist in a vacuum. They sit right in the middle of the sport’s central bargain, the one fans and insiders keep making over and over again: football delivers the thrill, but it also carries extraordinary physical punishment and potentially brutal consequences.
Johnson has acknowledged that he does not know exactly how his ALS started, but he has pointed to the growing body of research linking repetitive head trauma and ALS. On Instagram, he wrote, “I hope the NFL steps up, invests in research, and continues working to protect players.”
That’s the backdrop for the question I asked Robert Saleh and Mike Borgonzi on Tuesday, on the eve of training camp. Saleh and Borgonzi had both just taken part in an Ice Bucket Challenge to honor Johnson, and I wanted to know how, or whether, they reconcile their roles in a sport they love with what can happen to the men who play it.
It wasn’t a new subject. Johnson’s diagnosis just made it newly urgent in that setting.
What stood out most, though, was the response from Titans fans. A lot of them didn’t just dislike the question. They seemed genuinely offended by it.
Braden Gall’s reaction captured that feeling:
“Has stan culture ruined football discourse? @PaulKuharskyNFL asked #Titans GM and Robert Saleh about how they felt about the risks inherent in the game re: Chris Johnson’s recent ALS diagnosis.
Was the LAST question of the presser. The fans took it perfectly. 🤦🏼♂️ pic.twitter.com/oaGSfBuhxC”
But that reaction only underscored the point. The NFL has won a remarkable cultural argument.
“They knew what they signed up for” has become the stopping point, not the starting point. The violence gets acknowledged, the consequences get accepted, and anyone who asks people inside the sport to reckon with those consequences risks being treated like they’re attacking football itself.
Don’t mess with football, man. What are they supposed to say or do?
Violent sport. Not the time or the place.
Why are you grandstanding?
That’s the real victory for the league. Not that people think football is safe - nobody does. It’s that many have come to believe the danger is already built into the deal.
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John Franklin-Myers Just Sent Titans Fans A Message They Needed
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Franklin-Myers message matters because the Titans have spent plenty of time fighting off outside labels, and the line between a reset and a real step forward can get blurry before the pads come on. He sounded convinced the pieces are there for Tennessee to compete, and his arrival adds another experienced voice to a defense the Titans believe can improve quickly if the new group comes together the way they expect. [Read more 🡒]