Once among the NFL’s most punishing running backs, Larry Johnson opens up about memory loss, intrusive thoughts and his fears over football’s lasting toll

In his heyday, Larry Johnson was the NFL tailback you’d least want to line up against, the steamroller in pads who had defensive players and coaches questioning their life choices on every down. But since Johnson walked away from pro football in 2011, after seven seasons in the league and an All-Pro run with the Kansas City Chiefs, he’s the one doing the soul-searching, grappling with the toll all that gridiron glory has taken on his brain.

Johnson, who still cuts a fit and formidable figure at age 46, can scarcely recall his glittering career, much less its highlights. “I go up to maybe 2006, 2007,” he tells me. “Anything before or three years after, I really don’t remember.”

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