What is Keyshawn Johnson's Net Worth and Salary?
Keyshawn Johnson is a former professional football player who has a net worth of $20 million. Keyshawn Johnson played 11 seasons in the NFL as a wide receiver from 1996 to 2006. After starting out with the New York Jets, he played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dallas Cowboys before ending his playing career with the Carolina Panthers. Following his retirement, Johnson worked as a football analyst for ESPN and appeared on some reality television shows.
Salary, Contracts and Career Earnings
Keyshawn Johnson earned a total of $45 million in salary during his NFL career. He signed a 6-year, $30 million contract with the New York Jets in 1996, a 7-year, $50 million contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2000, and a 3-year, $10 million contract with the Dallas Cowboys in 2004. He also earned $500,000 in bonuses during his career. At his peak, Johnson was one of the highest-paid wide receivers in the NFL.
Early Life and High School
Keyshawn Johnson was born on July 22, 1972 in Los Angeles, California. He had a troubled youth marked by gang crime, and in middle school spent nine months in a California youth facility after being arrested for possessing cocaine, marijuana, and a handgun. Johnson went on to attend Palisades High School and Susan Miller Dorsey High School, playing football at the latter in his senior year.
Collegiate Career
Johnson began his collegiate career at West Los Angeles College, where he lasted just eight games on the football team due to poor behavior and failure to show up to practice. After sitting out the following year, he returned to football and did well enough to secure a transfer to the University of Southern California. At USC in 1994, Johnson posted 66 catches for 1,362 yards and nine touchdowns. The year after that, he recorded 102 catches for 1,434 yards and seven touchdowns. Johnson went on to help lead the Trojans to victory in the 1995 Cotton Bowl Classic, where he was named the MVP. He subsequently helped the Trojans win the Rose Bowl in 1996.
New York Jets
In the 1996 NFL Draft, Johnson was chosen with the first overall pick by the New York Jets. During his three seasons with the Jets, the team saw a huge turnaround from a dismal 1-15 record in 1996 to a 12-4 record and an AFC East Division title in 1998. Johnson had one of his greatest performances in an AFC divisional playoff game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1998, during which he caught nine passes for 121 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 28 yards and a touchdown. However, the Jets fell just one game short of the Super Bowl after losing the AFC Championship Game to the Denver Broncos.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Johnson was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the spring of 2000. He ultimately spent four seasons with the team through 2003. Johnson had his best season in 2002, when the Bucs posted a 12-4 record en route to winning Super Bowl XXXVII against the Oakland Raiders. He recorded 76 catches for 1,088 yards and five touchdowns during the regular season, and in the Super Bowl had six catches for 69 yards. Johnson's career with the Bucs came to an end prematurely due to his acrimonious relationship with new head coach Jon Gruden.
Dallas Cowboys
In the 2004 offseason, Johnson was traded to the Dallas Cowboys, reuniting him with his former Jets coach Bill Parcells. He had an impressive first season with the Cowboys, leading the team in receiving yards and tying for the lead in touchdown catches. Johnson played one more season with the team before being released in the 2006 offseason to make room for newly acquired receiver Terrell Owens.
Carolina Panthers
After being released by the Cowboys, Johnson signed a four-year deal with the Carolina Panthers. During the team's "Monday Night Football" game against the Bucs in November of 2006, Johnson scored a touchdown, making him the first NFL player ever to score a touchdown with four different teams on "Monday Night Football." However, after just a single season with the Panthers, he was released on the first of May in 2007. Toward the end of the month, Johnson announced that he was retiring from the NFL.
Post-Retirement
The same day he announced his retirement, Johnson announced that he was joining ESPN as a football analyst. In 2007, he was part of the NFL Draft broadcasting team and did analysis for "Sunday NFL Countdown" and "Monday Night Countdown." On those programs, Johnson invented a segment entitled "C'mon Man!," in which panel members highlighted moments from the previous NFL week. He later became an analyst on ESPN's "Who's Now" competition and began appearing on SportsCenter and ESPN Radio. Johnson left ESPN in 2023.
Among his other post-retirement activities, Johnson had an A&E reality television interior design show in 2009 entitled "Keyshawn Johnson: Tackling Design." A few years later, he starred in an acclaimed ad campaign for Jägermeister. In 2013, Johnson competed in the 17th season of the dance competition television show "Dancing with the Stars." Paired with professional dancer Sharna Burgess, he was the first celebrity to be voted out.
Personal Life
Johnson has three children named Keyshawn Jr., London, and Vance. He also had a daughter named Maia who passed away in 2021.
Beverly Hills Mansion
In roughly 2002, Keyshawn bought a 4-acre property in Beverly Hills for an undisclosed amount. In 2003 he finished construction on an 11,200 square foot opulent mansion. He sold this home in 20016 for $11.5 million. Here is a video tour of the home from when it was listed by a different owner in 2011:
Calabasas Mansion
In 2015 Keyshawn paid $2.2 million for a mansion in Calabasas, California. He sold this home in February 2022 for $3.36 million. Here is a video tour from before he bought the home in 2015: