He still has some room for new tattoos. Recently, Ty Johnson inked a lion with red eyes onto his chest. The Buffalo Bills running back is a tapestry of art and piercings.
And inside this locker room, he’s one of this AFC power’s deepest thinkers.
Manifestation is central to his life.
Johnson believes if you put in the work, “the universe” gives you everything you desire.
He writes daily affirmations on sticky notes and posts ‘em on a mirror.
Gamedays, he’ll write messages on his wrist tape — real-time reminders to hammer home. I first caught up with Johnson the week after he scored the key touchdown in Buffalo’s wild-card win over Denver two years ago:
While visiting Bills HQ ahead of their MNF win over Minnesota, we chatted again for the quick Q&A below.
This is Year 8 in the NFL and Year 4 in Buffalo.
Quarterback Josh Allen has declared Johnson the most valuable third-down back in the NFL because he’s so rock-solid in pass pro and good things always seem to happen when the ball is in his hands. Take that win over Minnesota. When moving the ball was a treacherous endeavor, he supplied the spark: a 36-yard reception up the left sideline on third and 8.
This season started with surgery. On Aug. 11, the vet had a hamstring accessory tendon removed and missed two games.
The 2019 sixth-round pick (once cut by the lowly New York Jets) just keeps going and he knows the secret to his success is something everyone can apply to their own lives.
After the Denver playoff game, we got into all of your manifestation. Are you still into that? Where are you at in that phase of speaking things in your existence?
Johnson: It’s an ever-evolving thing. I’m still about it every single day. That’s never changed. I’m more about it than ever. So it’s a part of my creed, my motto. How I go about my daily life in and out of football. So it’s still been the same.
Where do you do it? How do you do it? This is something people can apply to their everyday life. You don’t need to be a football player to manifest.
Johnson: You don’t need to be anywhere specific to do it. It’s just speaking things into existence. If you believe it internally with full conviction, it shows to the outer world that you have a higher belief in yourself and you have a higher power and believe in a higher power as well. Everything’s going to be all right for you. So that’s how I believe that it helps anybody. You don’t need to be on a team. You don’t need to be in nature or whatever. It’s anywhere and everywhere all at the same time.
What have you been able to bring to life?
Johnson: Affirmations I write down every day. Or how I speak about myself, or to myself. It’s my internal beliefs about myself. It’s been the same thing for me. I’ve been an open book about it. I write down my affirmations every day. I have a full conviction in myself and who I am as a person, as a player. So I don’t let that falter.
What would be an example of an affirmation? You do it every day. There’s a million of them, but any specifically that’ve resonated?
Johnson: I can say “I’m great,” “my talents will show regardless of the situation,” “process driven, not result driven.” So those few things just keep me levelheaded and I go about my day.
If you speak positively, you think positively, it can happen. There’s also the inverse. You can speak negatively. You’ve probably lived the whole gamut.
Johnson: Absolutely. It’s the law of correspondence, what you think yourself shows to the world externally. So if you speak negatively to yourself, it’s going to show negatively to the world. If you speak positively about yourself, you have the latter. So that’s what it is.
Any books that you’ve read on this, any podcasts you listen to that tap into this all?
Johnson: Really just the “12 Laws of the Universe” by Manhardeep Singh. I really dove into the laws of the universe and then “The Alchemist” helped a few years ago, too. Reading that. It’s probably one of my favorite books. And then just little stuff on IG that I follow or that comes across my “For You” page. And then even Midnight Gospel, it’s a podcast that’s turned into a cartoon on Netflix. So it’s only eight episodes or nine episodes, but each episode, (Duncan Trussell) actually has real people come to his podcast. And either they talk about meditation, dealing with grief and death or whatever. A lot of the episodes are more about dealing with death and grief, but there’s a few episodes about meditation. So it’s this wacky, trippy cartoon but there’s a good story in each one because there are doctors or whoever that actually come to the podcast.
I didn’t even know that existed. What a great way to bring a podcast to life. So it’s the real voices from the podcast?
Johnson: Yeah, and they just turn into a cartoon.
So what about you personally? Anything you’ve been through — on the field, off the field — since we last talked after that playoff game that’s shaped who you are?
Johnson: Everyday life, you feel me? Recently, I went through the (hamstring) surgery and stuff, so that was something to deal with. And just speaking positivity: “I’m going to be back on the field making plays better than ever.” And I had a full conviction on that. So that’s probably the biggest one. And then just everyday life, dealing with family or friends, teammates, things of that nature. All of it’s an ever-evolving situation.
With the surgery though — you want to be here long term — did you have to reaffirm yourself?
Johnson: I had to reaffirm myself when Beane and Brady told me to just get healthy and they asked me when do I think I’ll be able to be back? I told them I wanted to be back for the Houston game realistically, but the trainers and everyone else thought I might be pushing it a little. That was my main goal and they’re just like: “Just get right and we’ll be ready for you when you get back.” So I just kept that in my mind and kept working. I was in here putting in the work every single day.
What do you think differentiates you from anybody else who’s asked to do things that you do as a third-down back — catching the ball, running, pass pro?
Johnson: The trust that the coaches and Josh have in me. I think when it’s any kind of situation on the field, they trust me to be in there to help make the play. Whether it’s fourth and 1, third and 1. Even last week (against Baltimore), I believe it was a third and 1 on the little swing pass we did and they trust me to get that yard — and then some. So I take that with a lot of pride in everything. Knowing I’m in there and they call a certain play and I know it’s coming to me, I’ve got to get it. So that’s just what it is. They have trust in me and then I have a lot of gratitude for them trusting me.
I was talking to Alec Anderson about those crazy 40 seconds before the snap. When that play clock is dripping down, shit happens fast. The play call could be long and then the defense is showing you something exotic. For you, that’s probably the No. 1 priority — just knowing what you’ve got to do and being there, being reliable.
Johnson: That’s all it is. Preparation meets opportunity. And at the end of the day, you need to execute. So we go through it all week. We see a whole bunch of looks. Of course, every team’s going to have something that’s an unscouted look every week. But we just trust ourselves and do our job and we’ll get the result we want. That’s really is.
You’ve survived, you’ve thrived for eight years at this point. What do you attribute it most to get to this point?
Johnson: I would say my will to want to keep getting better in any facet, in any form of my game. But also I put it to the coaches and everything. I attest it to Coach Skip (running backs coach Kelly Skipper). He’s helped me evolve as a player year-in and year-out, whether it’s me asking what different coverages are and how they look and him trying to explain, “OK, this is what the O-Line is seeing and this is the call we’re going to get, this is what the quarterback’s seeing.” So just being able to see things that I shouldn’t be able to see as a running back and being able to understand what’s happening on the field, I give that to Coach Skip a lot because he really breaks it down and makes it simple for us. Over the past four years, I give Skip a lot of credit for how he’s coached me and helped me be a better player for sure.
Links from the week:
Phone Home: Inside Kirk Cousins’ return to the Minnesota Vikings
Ty & Bob Pod S5 E9: Kirk Cousins Returns
Real Football: Buffalo Bills earn grimy MNF dub, Wentz implodes, Jags ALL IN, Trevor Lawrence debate & the fight for AFC supremacy
Bombs Away! Jordan Love & Joe Burrow put NFL on notice
