The Tennessee Titans' contract stalemate with holdout running back Chris Johnson shows no signs of ending anytime soon.

While the Titans publicly stated they are willing to make Johnson the highest-paid running back in the NFL, those close to Johnson believe he should be paid as one of the top playmakers in the league -- not just for running backs, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.

To date, the Titans have not made any offers to Johnson. Until the Titans can find a way to appease Johnson, the Pro Bowl running back is not expected to report back to the team, which sets up the possibility for a prolonged holdout.

League sources told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen that Johnson is seeking a deal that would pay him $39 million over the first three years, a $13 million average, that would place him in that elite status he is seeking beyond the running back market.

General manager Mike Reinfeldt told The Associated Press last week that Johnson's agent was the first person the team called once the NFL's lockout was lifted. The Titans had reworked Johnson's contract a year ago to give him more money in 2010 and promised to talk to him again a year later.

But Johnson told The Tennessean he was surprised to hear that Reinfeldt said that he would make him the highest-paid running back ever. Johnson said neither he nor his agent has received any offer from the Titans.

"Maybe they talked, but I guarantee we never received any offer," Johnson told The Tennessean.

Johnson said last year that he wanted a new deal with $30 million in guaranteed money. The Titans revised his contract by boosting his 2010 salary by $1.5 million to $2.05 million to convince the running back to report.

Johnson is working off two models, sources told Mortensen, one in the past with LaDainian Tomlinson while trying to project the market for the Vikings' Adrian Peterson, who is scheduled to become a free agent.