The Tennessee Titans announced Friday that Chris Johnson will be inducted into the franchise’s Ring of Honor during the season opener on Sept. 13 against the New York Jets. 

Good.

Now, it’s time for the franchise to get real with their Ring of Honor.

CJ2K, the electric running back who set the NFL’s yards from scrimmage record with 2,509 yards during his legendary 2,000-yard rushing season, is absolutely deserving. He should already be there. Instead, the Titans are once again reacting to heartbreaking circumstances rather than making the decision on their own terms.

Johnson will have to watch his name and No. 28 go up in the Ring of Honor while his body is failing him during the 28th season of Tennessee Titans football. He is battling ALS and now communicates through a voice generation machine as the disease has progressed rapidly. The timing is gut-wrenching, and it exposes a pattern that should frustrate every Titans fan paying attention.

The Titans Ring of Honor’s reactionary history

The Ring of Honor was created in 2008 when franchise founder K.S. “Bud” Adams Jr. became its first inductee. Before that, the Oilers/Titans maintained a franchise Hall of Fame dating back to 1999 with an inaugural class of seven Houston Oilers greats. Bruce Matthews joined in 2002, six months after he retired from 19 years with the organization. Warren Moon followed in 2006.

All of those Hall of Fame members were folded into the Ring of Honor when it launched.

A few weeks later in the 2008 season, Eddie George, Steve McNair, and Frank Wycheck went in together on Oct. 27. That trio put the franchise on the map in Nashville. They were the heartbeat of this team for the first generation of Titans fans.

Then came a 10-year gap. Bud Adams passed away, his son-in-law Tommy Smith took over and failed quickly, and Amy Adams Strunk eventually assumed the controlling owner role. The Ring of Honor sat dormant until 2018. 

But what has happened since 2018 is where the real problem lives.

A pattern of reaction, not action

Since the Ring of Honor reopened for business, the Titans have consistently waited for an external event to force their hand rather than proactively honoring franchise legends.

Robert Brazile went in during 2018, but only after he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Warren Moon’s franchise Hall of Fame induction also followed his Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement. The Titans were waiting for someone else to validate the decision before making it.

On July 14, 2021 the team announced a trio of additions to the Ring of Honor in former general manager Floyd Reese (1986-2006), and two former head coaches Jeff Fisher (1994-2010) and Bum Philips (1975-1980).

Reese and Fisher went in together on Nov. 21 2021. Both deserved induction long before that. But the timing lined up with Reese passing away from cancer just five weeks after the announcement. Fisher going in alongside his longtime GM partner had symbolic value, but the reality is that Tennessee was reacting to Reese’s death.

Phillips went into the Ring of Honor on Sept. 26 2021, 41 years after he last coached the franchise and eight years after he passed away in 2013. That ceremony happened during what the organization called an Oilers tribute week.

Billy “White Shoes” Johnson’s induction might be the strangest one. The legendary return man served as the team’s Legend of the Game during the Oct. 29, 2023, throwback Oilers uniform debut against the Atlanta Falcons (the Will Levis game). 

Then on Dec. 14, three days before the Titans wore those throwbacks again against the Texans, the team announced Johnson would be inducted into the Ring of Honor at that game. He had just been at Nissan Stadium six weeks earlier. That timeline screams reactionary.

Mike Keith went into the Ring of Honor after leaving the Titans to become the voice of the Vols. He was the franchise’s play-by-play voice for more than 25 years and earned his place, but the timing once again followed an external event.

Coach Dave McGinnis, the beloved Titans Radio color analyst and longtime assistant coach who unfortunately passed away in April, is rightfully expected to be honored at some point this season. Coach Mac’s situation is a bit different because McGinnis was an active team employee who became ill. But the broader pattern remains.

Chris Johnson is the first drafted Titan in the Ring of Honor

The most damning fact in all of this is that Johnson will become the first player drafted as a Tennessee Titan to enter the Ring of Honor. 

The franchise changed its logos before a drafted Titans player made it in. Keith Bulluck, the former first-round linebacker, noted this after the announcement, and he’s right to point it out. There are plenty of players who have come through Nashville and earned Ring of Honor consideration. They just haven’t had an unfortunate situation trigger the organization into action.

The Titans are heading into a new stadium. The plans include a Ring of Honor presence at the new facility. That’s great. 

But how about establishing real criteria for what the Ring of Honor actually means? How about making proactive decisions instead of waiting for illness, death, or a Hall of Fame induction to force your hand?

I’m glad Chris Johnson will be here to see his name go up. Floyd Reese deserved that chance. I’m glad Steve McNair and Frank Wycheck saw their names added, too. Don’t wait for the next heartbreaking circumstance.