Brady Quinn: Derrick Johnson ‘a guy anyone would have been lucky to have’

Brady Quinn remembers both the teammate, but especially the man with whom he spent one season as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Derrick Johnson evokes those kinds of feelings for what the linebacker did on and off the field for the Chiefs, who have decided they are not going to re-sign him.

‘You could put him in any scheme and I think he was going to be productive’

Quinn — a quarterback for the Chiefs in 2012, Johnson’s eighth season on the team — believes Johnson would have been an asset for any team on which eh played.

“He’s a guy I think anyone would have been lucky to have,” Quinn said on the SiriusXM Blitz. “And, to be quite honest with you, in my opinion, you could put him in any scheme and I think he was going to be productive. He was just that type of athlete, that type of talent and he had that sort of football IQ.”

‘He’s the type of guy that says something when it needs to be said, but doesn’t say too much’

As far as Quinn is concerned, however, Johnson’s impact went well beyond the field.

“I have the utmost respect for him as a leader, the way he handles himself through times of adversity but also in times of good,” Quinn said. “(He’s) the type of guy that says something when it needs to be said, but doesn’t say too much and does everything right by example — the way he takes care of his body, the way he prepares, the way he goes about organizing things for players on the team and having just a sense of community within the team. I can’t say enough good things about Derrick Johnson.

‘His impact goes far beyond the box score stats or how many games he played’

“And, again, it was only for a year, but the way he handled a tragic event with the suicide of Jevon Belcher and how that all went, a guy that he played next to and knew, and how he brought the team around. This is the person he is, but as far as a player, his impact goes far beyond the box score stats or how many games he played. I know that’s how he’s always going to be remembered by most fans, but my recollection is this is a guy who played at a really, really high level at one of the most physical positions that there is in the game of football.”