Finally.

After nearly a month of holding out, Larry Johnson has signed a five year extension that will lock him up as a Chief through 2012. The deal will effectively earn him $45 million over the next six years. For those of you doing the math, that’s about $7.5 million per year, though he’ll earn $27.7 million over the first three years (just under $9 million per year) of the deal and $19 million is guaranteed.

I can’t express enough how wise the Chiefs are to make this deal happen. Larry Johnson is the central part of that offense, especially with the departure of Trent Green. He’s the team’s workhorse back and his presence is worth wins to Kansas City. Imagine the team limping through 2007 without Johnson and an inexperienced quarterback.

What does this mean as far as Priest Holmes is concerned? He was ready to sign up for the money — not to help the team, but instead help himself — but with Johnson signing this contract, Holmes is suddenly no longer needed.

As far as Johnson’s fantasy value is concerned, he has great value at number three overall and it’s justifiable to pick him number two. He’ll carry 350+ times in 2007 and no doubt top 1500 yards rushing and make the majority of Kansas City’s scores.

In short, owners who were skittish of drafting Johnson at number three overall because of the contract dispute will be regretting it at season’s end.

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