Bucs

Keyshawn says he's ending it his way

Former Bucs receiver retires after 11 seasons, joins ESPN.

By STEPHEN F. HOLDER
Published May 24, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [AP photo] Keyshawn Johnson poses on an ESPN set in Bristol, Conn. on Monday.

Tampa Bay provided Keyshawn Johnson with both the highlight and low point of his professional football career.

When he helped the Bucs win a Super Bowl after the 2002 season, it gave him a memory he will forever cherish. When his relationship with coach Jon Gruden soured a year later, leading to Johnson's deactivation for the final six games, he earned a label he has been unable to shake.

When Johnson announced his retirement Wednesday after 11 NFL seasons, he seemed keenly aware that he will be remembered in vastly different ways by different people.

"If anybody's concentrating on one incident that happened in Tampa some time ago, I think they're looking at the wrong thing," he said during a teleconference announcing his move to ESPN, where he will join Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday Night Countdown as an analyst, contribute to a new weekly ESPN Radio NFL show hosted by Chris Mortensen and Bill Parcells, and have an Internet presence.

"It's unfortunate. But I'm not going to worry about the naysayers or worry about people's opinion of me."

All things considered, his time in Tampa 2000-03 was memorable.

"It was a great experience," said Johnson, the No. 1 overall pick out of USC by the Jets in 1996. "As I said a couple years ago, even after they deactivated me, if they had called me back I would have come back. I enjoyed being a part of a championship team."

Johnson, 35 on July 22, said he came close to signing with the Titans and considered offers from the Packers, Patriots and Raiders: "But I always felt in the back of my mind that when I walk away, I'll walk away on my terms."

Johnson, who spent 2004-05 with Parcells and the Cowboys and last season with the Panthers before his release May 8, leaves having posted four 1,000-yard seasons. He became the 16th in NFL history to reach 800 career receptions and the 26th with 10,000 receiving yards last season, when he caught 70 passes for 815 yards and four touchdowns. He finishes with 814 receptions, tied for 16th all time, 10,571 yards and 64 touchdowns.

BUCS HOST WR: The Bucs worked out Antonio Bryant, 26, and walked away intrigued with the 6-foot-2, 188-pound receiver who surpassed 1,000 yards just two seasons ago. The sixth-year veteran was released by the 49ers after drawing a four-game suspension last season for violating the league's substance-abuse policy. He has two games left and would have to sit out with whatever team signs him. He pleaded no contest this month in San Mateo, Calif., to reckless driving and was fined $1,312 and sentenced to a year's probation for going more than 100 mph in his orange Lamborghini in November. The 49ers cut ties with Bryant despite giving him a four-year, $13.9-million contract after he caught 69 passes for 1,009 yards in 2005 with Cleveland. He caught 40 for 733 yards last season.

Stephen F. Holder can be reached at sholder@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3377.

[Last modified May 24, 2007, 01:01:44]