The Redskins Blog

Redskins Sign RB Larry Johnson

The Redskins today announced the signing of running back Larry Johnson. Johnson had several stellar seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, including back-to-back 1,700 yard years in 2005 and 2006. During that 2006 campaign, he also made the notable play of tackling long-maned Steelers safety Troy Polamalu by his hair, as seen above.

According to Robert Dvorchak’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette game story, “The free-wheeling safety was dragged down by the long locks that flow out of his helmet during an interception return that will be re-run more often than a Seinfeld episode.”

Johnson’s post-game response?

“I mean, the dude had hair. What do you want me to do?” Johnson said. “They said that hair is part of the uniform the last time I checked. When I grabbed him, that’s the only thing I could get my hands on. It’s not like I was trying to jerk him down…If you know anybody who has long hair, you take your hand and run it through somebody’s head, it’s going to get stuck, and that’s what happened. Trying to get my hands out of it was the hard part.”

(Honestly, that whole piece is worth reading, including reactions from Larry Foote and Polamalu noting, “No, it didn’t hurt. It felt good.” Just an all-around bizarre incident, well-covered.)