Sports radio personality Ted Johnson leaving KILT

Ted Johnson, former NFL linebacker poses for a portrait before co-hosting The Fred & Ted Show on KILT (Sports Radio 610), Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014. Johnson retired from the New England Patriots before the 2005 NFL season after sustaining many concussions during his career. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle ) less Ted Johnson, former NFL linebacker poses for a portrait before co-hosting The Fred & Ted Show on KILT (Sports Radio 610), Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014. Johnson retired from the New England Patriots before the 2005 ... more Photo: Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle Photo: Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 39 Caption Close Sports radio personality Ted Johnson leaving KILT 1 / 39 Back to Gallery

Former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson, a co-host of KILT's (610 AM) afternoon drive time sports talk program since 2014, will depart the station after Friday's show, station program director Ryan McCredden said Thursday.

Johnson, who is hosting the "Triple Threat" show this week from Texans training camp with Sean Pendergast and Rich Lord, will leave Houston as well and return to Boston to be near his children, McCredden said in an email.

"While we will miss Ted tremendously, as he has been a great part of SportsRadio 610 over the last six years, we definitely support family first and understand how he came to this decision," McCredden said.

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McCredden said the afternoon show will continue with Pendergast and Lord joined by a rotation of former players and analysts as contributors.

Johnson, 45, played linebacker for the Patriots from 1995 through 2004 after graduating from the University of Colorado. He was a member of New England teams that won Super Bowl championships after the 2001, 2003 and 2004 seasons and was selected to the Patriots' all-decade team for the 1990s.

He also was one of the first former players to speak forthrightly about the impact of concussions suffered during his playing career.

Johnson suffered two concussions in a four-day period during August 2002 and said he sustained several more concussions during his 10-year NFL career. He later was diagnosed as having mild cognitive impairment that his neurologist said was characteristic of early Alzheimer's disease.

He was one of the first athletes to agree to donate his brain after his death to the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Bedford, Mass., one of the nation's leading research centers as part of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at the Boston University School of Medicine.

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In a 2013 interview, Johnson credited his career in sports radio with helping him maintain a stable life.

"Sports talk radio is huge for me. It engages me cognitively all the time," he said. "And I have to stay engaged in life. Any type of sedentary life is not good. I work out every day. I eat right, sleep right and stay active professionally, which is the best thing I can do."

Johnson, whose father owns a barbecue restaurant in Tomball, joined KILT in 2013 and was moved into the afternoon drive slot a year later.