Kansas City Chiefs’ running back Emmett Johnson went viral after receiving a rough hit during training camp from teammate DB Xavier Nwankpa.
Johnson was running a route in an open scrimmage when Nwankpa levelled him with a hard hit, prompting teammates to help the former Nebraska Cornhuskers RB up.
Nwankpa and Johnson were on opposite ends of a heated college rivalry, as Nwankpa was a DB for the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Emmett Johnson reacts to hit from college rival Xavier Nwankpa on the Chiefs
Johnson spoke to the media after training camp and downplayed the hit from Nwankpa, chalking it up to being just football and issuing a warning for the next time such a situation develops.
“That’s just football, man, it was 7 on 7–I gotta use my pad level and next time you’re going to see what happens.”
Nwankpa and Johnson are both rookies on the Chiefs this season, with Johnson getting drafted at No. 161 in the fifth round and Nwankpa signing as an undrafted free agent.
Both are looking to secure their spot on the final roster before the season and will be out to prove a point, especially for the undrafted Nwankpa.
The pair were on opposite ends of the intense Iowa-Nebraska rivalry for three seasons, with Nwankpa’s Iowa winning the three games against Johnson’s Nebraska.
While they’re sharing a locker room in the NFL right now, there is no love lost between the pair after being in the middle of a heated rivalry.
But for both to have fruitful NFL careers, college rivalries need to be forgotten, and they need to be united as a team for locker room harmony on the most successful NFL franchise of the last 10 years.
The Chiefs likely won’t react to that incident publicly, but it could ultimately leave a strong impression on how the team evaluates both prospects when finalising their roster.
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