Keyshawn Johnson

Keyshawn Johnson was born Joseph Johnson in Los Angeles California. He spent much of his early days living within a close proximity to USC's Los Angeles campus, where he would eventually go on to play college football in 1994 and 1995. Despite beginning his college career at West Los Angeles College, he would go on to make the All-American first team as a USC Trojan. He was then voted MVP of the 1995 Cotton Bowl Classic, before leading the Trojans to the 1996 Rose Bowl, where they defeated the Northwestern Wildcats 41-32. Johnson's performance in that game solidified his place in the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame, which he was elected to in December of 2008. After graduating from USC with a degree in history and social sciences, Johnson was drafted by the New York Jets with the number one pick in the 1996 NFL Draft. The next three years saw Johnson leading the Jets out of years of mediocrity and into the team's first ever AFC East title. By 1998, Johnson had made the Pro Bowl, where he won co-MVP in his first ever appearance. That same year, the Jets would fall short of the Super Bowl by one close game - a 23-10 loss to the Denver Broncos. By 2000, the Jets were looking to clean house. They sent Johnson to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he was immediately met with an 8-year, $56 million dollar contract. And it only took two short years for Johnson to make it back into the Super Bowl, where he followed years of successful regular season play with post-season heroics to earn him his first and only Super Bowl Ring in 2002. But by 2003, beleaguered by a hostile relationship with the Buccaneer's new head coach, Jon Gruden, Johnson was looking for a way out. He missed the final games of the 2003 season, and by spring of 2004, Johnson was in search of a new team. It didn't take long for the Dallas Cowboys, now coached by Bill Parcells, Johnsons' coach from his early days in New York, to be drawn to the unhappy wide receiver. The next two years were successful for Johnson, watching his career transition from that of a young firebrand to a veteran with a locker-room presence. In his final year in the NFL, he was picked up by the Carolina Panthers, who had signed him to a four-year, $14 million dollar contract. Watching his future in the league dwindle with time, Johnson played valiantly behind Steve Smith, the Panther's starting wide receiver. But after expressing more growing frustration, including one incident that saw him receive a $5,000 fine for throwing his helmet in the middle of a game, Johnson was released by the Panthers in 2007. He would never play another game in the league. A few months after his retirement, Johnson made an appearance as an analyst for ESPN during the 2007 NFL Draft, leading to a new career as an NFL commentator on the network's "Sunday NFL Countdown" and "Monday Night Countdown." In 2005, he founded First Picks Management, a venture capital firm which partners with a series of NFL and NBA athletes for various investment projects. And while his days on the field have long since ended, Johnson has left his playing career with respectable numbers as well as a lasting mark on the league's history.