NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans will induct former running back Chris Johnson, the sixth player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a single season, into their ring of honor during halftime of their 2026 regular-season opener on Sept. 13 at Nissan Stadium.
The Titans announced the honor Friday. Johnson, 40, made a public announcement June 29 on ABC’s “Good Morning America ” that a year earlier he was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), the fatal nervous system commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
“Chris Johnson holds a special place in the hearts of our organization and our fans,” Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk said in a team release announcing the planned honor. “His stats speak for themselves, and he will forever remain a leader in our record books, but the man behind the yardage deserves just as much celebration.”
Johnson, who played his college football at East Carolina, was selected by the Titans with the 24th pick of the 2008 NFL draft and played six of his 10 seasons in the league with Tennessee. He rushed for 7,965 yards and had 58 total touchdowns in that span. Those totals both rank fourth for a franchise that counts Earl Campbell, Eddie George and Derrick Henry among its former running backs.
Campbell and George are already in the franchise’s ring of honor, while Henry is still an active NFL player preparing for his third season with the Baltimore Ravens after playing his first eight in the league for Tennessee. The franchise debuted as an AFL club in 1960 and played as the Houston Oilers through the 1996 season before moving to Tennessee; the team debuted its Titans nickname in 1999.