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Chris Johnson: Racing a cheetah wasn't 'crazy'

Let's talk more cheetahs.

When Chris Johnson's marketing team approached him about racing the great cat for a special on Nat Geo Wild (check your local listings), the Tennessee Titans running back was all in.

"I didn't think it was crazy," Johnson said Friday, according to The Tennessean. "I thought it was something fun to do, just to test human vs. animal."

Of course, a cheetah is a wild beast that could, well, eat Johnson if it wanted to, so precautions were taken when the race went down at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Fla. A wall was erected to separate man and cat during the race.

"The crazy thing is when they first set it up and they did a test run before we got there, the cheetah actually jumped over the barrier," Johnson said. "So they had to make it higher."

(Note: This is exactly the moment we'd shut down the whole operation.)

Titans coach Mike Munchaksaid Wednesday he picked his running back in the race. Johnson told reporters "you'll have to wait and see" who wins. Spoiler alert: The mammal without spots loses.

Johnson said some teammates don't believe he actually took part in the unique challenge -- which is all a round-about way of allowing us to use this quote from Titans teammate Kenny Britt.

"If my man said he raced a cheetah, he raced a cheetah, you feel me? If he said he beat the cheetah, he beat the cheetah, you feel me?" Britt said. "Point blank. Period. Am I ready to race a cheetah? No way."

We feel him.

Follow Dan Hanzus on Twitter @DanHanzus.

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