Ex-pro Chad Johnson thinks he knows how to beat 49ers’ Fred Warner

Since his huge performance in Sunday’s 42-10 win against the Cowboys, Warner has been the subject of high praise from teammates, the league and even upcoming opponents. It’s all been well deserved, as he racked up eight tackles, an interception, a sack and a forced fumble. However, the best thing that’s been said about the 26-year-old defensive standout came in the form of a backhanded compliment.

Warner was a guest on Tuesday’s episode of “Inside the NFL,” where former All-Pro wideout Chad Johnson, one of the show’s panelists, got his chance to speak to the linebacker. Johnson started off as complimentary as everyone else has been this week, comparing Warner to all-time great linebackers. Within seconds of the high praise, the man formerly known as Chad Ochocinco then turned around and started to brag about his own skill set.

“You are what people call a generational talent,” the ex-pro said. “You are one of the best. You will go down as one of the best, similar to Ray Lewis, similar to Dick Butkus. You’ve set the standard on the inside linebacker position right now in the NFL.

“But I think you are lucky in the fact that I don’t play in today’s game. You’re lucky I don’t play in today’s game based on what I would have done to you coming through the A gap, B gap or C gap. Because I played running back before I went to receiver. And I know you’re good at scraping. I’m just telling you what would’ve happened. It’s physics. Because of physics, I know you would have lost that battle with all due respect to you.”

Warner, along with the show’s other three panelists — former NFL players Ryan Clark, Jay Cutler and Channing Crowder — thought Johnson’s pivot was hilarious. The linebacker even replied, “The way you set that one up was perfect,” with a big smile on his face. Johnson responded with “It’s all love.”

While it’s true that fans can only hypothesize how a battle between Johnson and Warner would have gone down — especially since Warner has yet to face anyone this season who’s as good as Johnson was in his prime — they can make an educated guess based on one of Johnson’s more memorable moments on the field involving an aforementioned all-time great linebacker.

In the 2009 season opener, Johnson famously tried to hit Ray Lewis with a blindside block during a two-point attempt toward the end of the game. Unfortunately for Johnson, Lewis hardly noticed him and knocked the receiver on his backside. The former Bengals star then had to explain what happened to the trainers who looked after him, and the whole incident was captured on camera because Johnson was mic’d up.

Though Johnson swore as recently as last year that he always beat Lewis in the middle of the field, it’s hard to imagine Warner versus Johnson going much differently from that clip.