Chad Johnson, while controversial, has always been a fun guy. That notion changed drastically following his offseason arrest.
Johnson, who was arrested in August on a domestic violence charge, said on Showtime's Inside the NFL on Wednesday that he's currently taking anger management classes in an effort to work out some issues.
"I'm taking classes, anger management classes," he said. "I'm trying to find out how can I channel my anger when I'm in situations to where I would pop off? How can I defuse those situations?
"When you get a humble Chad Johnson that has lost everything and has to work his way back up, that's a big deal," Johnson continued. "Because you're not getting that same individual, you're not getting that same fun guy. … I gotta prove a point. That's the scariest thing in the world to have someone that has that drive."
Johnson and Evelyn Lozada finalized their divorce earlier in the day on Wednesday, officially ending what had been a very short marriage. Johnson expressed a lot of regret during his Showtime interview — in terms of his career and, more importantly, his marriage.
"First off, I lost two things that I love, honestly. Football, I love. You know that. And you know the way I play the game, I enjoy it, I have fun with it, you know?" Johnson said. "And being married, being a husband, being a lover, it was an honor. You know what I mean? And I lost that. And you know that saying, 'You never know what you have until it's gone?' And now I finally know what they mean."
Johnson said the situation in August — in which he allegedly head-butted his then-wife — was a "mistake," and he takes responsibility for everything.
The wide receiver was released by the Dolphins shortly after the incident, and he's yet to catch on with another NFL team, but that's not stopping the wide receiver from working hard in the hopes of returning to the gridiron.
"Where do I go from here, now that I think about it? I gotta work on Chad. Chad has to work on Chad," Johnson said. "Chad has to go deep down inside and figure out where he went wrong. At what point did you lose focus on what's most important, especially the game of football?"
It's anyone's guess as to whether Chad can work hard and long enough on Chad to make another team want to roll the dice on him. Regardless of the exact point at which he went wrong, Johnson's on-field production and off-the-field distractions aren't really a recipe for prolonging his football career.
Photo via Twitter/@RoseannaFranco10
