{"id":934558,"date":"2026-07-02T10:21:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T10:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/934558\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T10:21:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T10:21:24","slug":"texans-former-titans-all-pro-rb-chris-johnson-reveals-als-diagnosis-on-good-morning-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/934558\/","title":{"rendered":"Texans: Former Titans All-Pro RB Chris Johnson reveals ALS diagnosis on ‘Good Morning America’"},"content":{"rendered":"

July 1, 2026, 7:27 p.m. CT<\/p>\n

A former Houston Texans<\/a> foe is now fighting a battle bigger than football.<\/p>\n

Former Tennessee Titans<\/a> All-Pro running back Chris Johnson<\/a> announced on ‘Good Morning America<\/a>‘ this week that he was diagnosed with\u00a0ALS. The 40-year-old told Hall of Fame defensive end and longtime GMA host Michal Strahan that while he can’t speak, he’s still the same person.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, I want people to know that I\u2019m still me,\u201d Johnson said, speaking through a speech-generating device. \u201cALS has changed what my body can do, but it hasn\u2019t changed who I am.\u201dMedically known as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and often called Lou Gehrig’s disease, ALS is a fatal, progressive neurological disease that shuts down all motor skills. According to Johnson’s doctors, the former Titans<\/a> and Arizona Cardinals<\/a> running back is believed to have sporadic ALS after being diagnosed in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf sharing my story helps even one person get diagnosed sooner, inspires more research or gives another family hope, it\u2019s worth it,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

A former standout at East Carolina, Johnson became an icon after breaking the then-40-yard-dash record at the NFL combine with a 4.24 time. A first-round pick in 2006, Johnson played 10 seasons, racking up 9,651 rushing yards and 55 touchdowns.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

Earning the nickname \u201cCJ2K,\u201d Johnson made history in 2009 after becoming the sixth player in league history to rush for over 2,000 yards. He retired from the league in 2017.<\/p>\n

The Texans<\/a> report for training camp on July 21.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"July 1, 2026, 7:27 p.m. CT A former Houston Texans foe is now fighting a battle bigger than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":934559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[95878,7,221,253,2368,6,119587,96520,96521,123885,95882,95890,97087,96696,123884,95953,96082,96682,95896,116446,95888,96683,96685,95895,96681,96686,96680,96687,96684,95899,96177,95883,95889,222,95881],"class_list":["post-934558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston-texans","tag-accessfree","tag-football","tag-houston","tag-houston-texans","tag-houstontexans","tag-nfl","tag-sourcetexans-wire","tag-sstssportsnfltexans","tag-sstsntexans","tag-tagals","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagarizona-cardinals","tag-tagbreaking-news-social","tag-tagcelebrities-entertainment-news","tag-tagchris-johnson","tag-taghouston-texans","tag-taglocal-affiliate-arts-entertainment","tag-tagmadden-nfl","tag-tagnational-sports","tag-tagneurological-conditions","tag-tagnfl","tag-tagnfl-draft","tag-tagnfl-films","tag-tagnfl-hub","tag-tagnfl-junkies","tag-tagnfl-mvp","tag-tagnfl-overreactions","tag-tagnfl-playoffs","tag-tagnfl-scouting-combine","tag-tagoverall-neutral","tag-tagsmg-breaking-wire","tag-tagsports-news","tag-tagtennessee-titans","tag-texans","tag-typestory"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=934558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/934559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=934558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=934558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=934558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}