This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.
Keith Allison, ChadJohnson, CC BY-SA 2.0 
Keith Allison from Baltimore, USA, Keyshawn Johnson 2006-10-15, CC BY-SA 2.0
In the NFL, the wide receiver position is probably most associated with primadonna or diva-type players, i.e. talented pass-catchers who also like to trash talk, run their mouths, and generally make news off the field – think Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Michael Irvin, Antonio Brown, etc. During the past two decades or so of professional football, two of the brashest and best wide receivers who fit this mold were Chad Johnson and Keyshawn Johnson, who are actually related (Chad is Keyshawn’s cousin). At their relative peaks, each wide receiver was not only an annual 1,000-yard threat, but also generated weekly headlines unrelated to their in-game performances. While passing numbers have become increasingly inflated over time, both still have impressive career totals of 750+ receptions, 10,000+ receiving yards, and 60+ receiving touchdowns – given their similar career numbers, personalities, and familial relationship, it seems only natural to ask the question:
Who was better – Chad Johnson or Keyshawn Johnson?
The Beginning
The products of football hotbeds in Florida and California, Chad was a good, but not great college player, whereas Keyshawn is one of the few wide receivers ever drafted #1 overall.
After growing up in Miami, Florida, Chad first attended Langston University in Oklahoma before transferring to Santa Monica College in California, where he played on the football team with fellow future star receiver Steve Smith. Based on his strong game tape in Santa Monica, Chad then transferred to Oregon State University – lining up opposite future NFL teammate T.J. Houshmandzadeh, he had 37 receptions for 806 receiving yards and 8 touchdowns in his lone season with the Beavers while helping the team to an 11-1 record and a Fiesta Bowl victory. Despite relatively limited college production, Johnson was drafted 36th overall in the second round of the 2001 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals; as a rookie, he had a quiet season with 28 catches for 329 receiving yards and a touchdown.
In contrast, Keyshawn was a Los Angeles native and originally played college football at West Los Angeles College for a few years before transferring to powerhouse USC. In two seasons with the Trojans, he was a 2x First Team All-Pacific 10 (Pac-10) selection and as a senior, also earned Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year and First Team All-American honors. As a result, in a 1996 NFL Draft that also included the likes of Owens, Marvin Harrison, Eric Moulds, Terry Glenn, and Muhsin Muhammad, Keyshawn was the first overall pick by the New York Jets, becoming the only the third wide receiver ever taken with the top pick (following Dave Parks in 1964 and Irving Fryar in 1984). Expected to contribute immediately, Johnson was solid as a rookie with 63 receptions for 844 receiving yards and 8 touchdowns.
Career Comparison
During the late 1990s and into the 2000s, Chad and Keyshawn were each among the top tier of wide receivers in the NFL, racking up 1,000-yard and Pro Bowl seasons while at the same time, never failing to provide juicy soundbites.
In his second season in 2002, Chad broke out to the tune of 69 receptions for 1,166 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns. From there, with first Jon Kitna and then Carson Palmer at quarterback for the Bengals and lining up opposite his former college teammate Houshmandzadeh, Johnson would reel off five straight Pro Bowl seasons from 2003 to 2007, including four seasons with 90+ catches, four seasons with 1,300+ receiving yards, and four seasons as the AFC receiving leader. Interestingly, 2003 was the only year he scored double-digit touchdowns for his career (though had countless memorable touchdown celebrations): 90 catches for 1,355 yards and 10 touchdowns to earn Second Team All-Pro honors. After another strong campaign in 2004 (95 receptions for 1,274 yards and 9 touchdowns), Chad was a First Team All-Pro for back-to-back seasons:
- 2005: a career-high 97 receptions for 1,432 yards and 9 touchdowns
- 2006: 87 receptions for a league-high 1,369 yards with 7 touchdowns
Coming off these All-Pro years, Chad followed up in 2007 with 93 catches for a career-high 1,440 receiving yards (which remains a Bengals single-season record) plus 8 touchdowns. The next year, in 2008, he legally changed his name to Chad Ochocinco (Spanish for 85, his jersey number), but an injury to quarterback Palmer led to a disastrous season that saw him only have 53 catches and 540 yards, his worst production since his rookie season. Nevertheless, Chad was able to bounce back in 2009 with 72 receptions for 1,047 yards and 9 touchdowns, garnering his final Pro Bowl selection in the process. Following one more season with the Bengals (67 catches for 831 yards and 4 touchdowns), he was traded in 2011 to the New England Patriots for a pair of late-round draft picks, leaving Cincinnati after a decade with most of the team’s career receiving records. However, he had the worst statistical season of his career as a backup and was released after just one season in New England; Ochocinco then signed with the Miami Dolphins while also changing his name back to Chad Johnson, but never played a regular season game in Florida. Though he played his last NFL game at age 33, Chad did later spend a couple of seasons with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL).
Similarly, Keyshawn gradually improved with the Jets, increasing his production to 70 catches for 936 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns in Year Two. This was followed by back-to-back Pro Bowl seasons: 83 receptions for 1,131 yards and a career-high 10 touchdowns in 1998 and 89 receptions for 1,170 yards and 8 touchdowns in 1999. However, just as he was entering his prime, Johnson was traded ahead of the 2000 season to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for two first-round picks in the 2000 NFL Draft (13th and 27th overall, used by New York on John Abraham and Anthony Becht) and would become the highest-paid receiver in football at 8 years and $56M. Overall, Keyshawn was a bit of a disappointment in Tampa Bay – in his first year as the team’s go-to receiver, he posted a solid, but unspectacular 71 receptions for 874 yards and 8 touchdowns. In 2001, while he did earn a third and final Pro Bowl selection with career-highs of 106 catches and 1,266 yards, he only managed to score a single touchdown. As an encore, Johnson had his final 1,000-yard season: 76 receptions for 1,088 yards and 5 touchdowns.
Ultimately, conflicts with Buccaneer’s head coach Jon Gruden led to Keyshawn being benched for the final six games of the 2003 season and he was subsequently traded to the Dallas Cowboys for fellow receiver Joey Galloway. Reunited with former Jets coach Bill Parcells, Johnson had two workman-like seasons as a top pass-catching option for the Cowboys:
- 2004: 70 receptions for 981 yards and 6 touchdowns
- 2005: 71 receptions for 839 yards and 6 touchdowns
Following two years in Dallas, Keyshawn signed as a free agent with the Carolina Panthers to play opposite Steve Smith and had yet another good, but not great year with 70 catches for 815 yards and 4 touchdowns; released at season’s end, Johnson would play his last NFL game at 34 and officially retired in 2007.
Both Chad and Keyshawn played 11 NFL seasons and are separated by just one game; on one hand, Keyshawn racked up more catches, but on the other hand, Chad compiled more receiving yards on more 1,000-yard seasons (7x vs. 4x) and scored more touchdowns; additionally, the younger Johnson earned more Pro Bowl selections (6 to 3) and was a 3x All-Pro vs. none for Keyshawn. On a per-game basis, Chad averaged 4.61 receptions for 66.62 yards and 0.40 touchdowns over 166 regular season games and Keyshawn averaged 4.87 receptions for 63.30 yards and 0.38 touchdowns across 167 regular season games. Neither receiver is currently in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and given the large backlog of similar players at the position (Torry Holt, Reggie Wayne, Anquan Boldin, Hines Ward, the aforementioned Steve Smith, Andre Johnson, etc.), it may be a long uphill battle for both Johnsons.
Regular Season Statistics
| Chad Johnson | Player | Keyshawn Johnson |
| 11 (2001-2011) | Seasons | 11 (1996-2006) |
| 166 | Games Played | 167 |
| 766 | Receptions | 814 |
| 11,059 | Receiving Yards | 10,571 |
| 67 | Receiving Touchdowns | 64 |
| 6x | Pro Bowls | 3x |
| 2x | All-Pro | – |
| – | Super Bowls | 1x |
| – | Other Awards | – |
| – | Hall of Fame Induction | – |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
When it comes to the postseason, their experiences diverged greatly – Chad had minimal success in the playoffs, while Keyshawn was a key component of a Super Bowl-winning team in Tampa Bay after nearly leading the Jets to the Super Bowl as well.
Chad only played in four career playoff games (two of which came in his lone season as a little-used reserve with New England); he never won a playoff game with the Bengals and his best postseason game was 4 receptions for 59 yards in 2005.
As for Keyshawn, he made four playoff trips, once with the Jets and 3x with the Buccaneers. In 1998, New York advanced all the way to the AFC Championship Game before losing to John Elway and the eventual Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos – during a divisional round victory vs. Jacksonville Jaguars, Keyshawn had his best individual postseason game with 9 catches for 121 yards and a touchdown. Later on in Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers were able to put it all together in 2002 to reach Super Bowl XXXVII vs. league MVP Rich Gannon and the Oakland Raiders and cruise to a 48-21 win; though the victory was led by Derrick Brooks and the ferocious defense, Johnson contributed a solid 6 receptions for 69 yards.
Playoff Statistics
| Chad Johnson | Player | Keyshawn Johnson |
| 4 | Games Played | 7 |
| 7 | Receptions | 39 |
| 108 | Receiving Yards | 569 |
| – | Receiving Touchdowns | 2 |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; after close to a decade of being top-flight wide receivers (Chad with the Bengals, Keyshawn with the Jets/Buccaneers/Cowboys), both players were relegated to secondary roles in the twilight of their NFL careers. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Chad Johnson | Player | Keyshawn Johnson |
| 2001-2010 | Decade of Dominance | 1996-2002, 2004-2006 |
| 151 | Games Played | 157 |
| 751 | Receptions | 769 |
| 10,783 | Receiving Yards | 9,971 |
| 66 | Receiving Touchdowns | 61 |
Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com
Likewise, over their decades of dominance (which exclude each player’s worst season), Keyshawn caught more total passes, but Chad gained more yards and scored more touchdowns.
My Thoughts
When you think of Chad Johnson and Keyshawn Johnson today, most fans may remember them more for their mouths than for their hands; nevertheless, in the primes of their careers, each receiver was among the best in the game, a consistent threat to top 1,000 yards in a season and make the Pro Bowl. Between the two Johnsons, however, I think the choice is relatively clear: despite being the top overall pick in his draft, Keyshawn never quite lived up to those lofty expectations; even in Tampa Bay, as the highest-paid receiver in the game, he was at his peak very good, but never quite great, i.e. a great possession-type receiver. Meanwhile, for a period of a half-dozen years or so, Chad was arguably one of the top five pass-catchers in the game – perhaps unlike Keyshawn, his game actually lived up to his talk. As to the Hall of Fame question, I would say no to both – each Johnson was very good for a long time, but in comparison to the other wide receivers of their era, neither was truly dominant for long enough to merit induction into Canton.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Chad Johnson
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
More Good Stuff
- Watch: Get tickets to see the Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets, or any other NFL team in action
- Wear: Buy sports apparel for the Bengals, Jets, or any other NFL team
- Collect: Buy unique sports memorabilia for Chad Johnson, Keyshawn Johnson, or your favorite NFL player(s) or team(s)
- Play: Show off your football knowledge by playing daily fantasy football
- Build: Start your own sports website/blog
Previous
H2H 99: Jarome Iginla vs. Brendan Shanahan
