They no longer share a locker room, but animosity is another story.

Taking yet another recent round of ridicule from Keyshawn Johnson, Wayne Chrebet responded in kind by belittling the former Jets receiver.

Chrebet was reacting to a Post story last month in which Johnson firmly said that the 5-foot-10 Chrebet was incapable of replacing him as the Jets’ No. 1 receiver this season.

“Well, time will tell,” Chrebet said with a mischievous smile yesterday before the Jets practiced at Hofstra. “Obviously I never much listened to anything he had to say. But time will certainly tell.”

Johnson, who was dealt to Tampa Bay in April, is already convinced. In fact, he burst out in laughter at the notion of Chrebet becoming the No. 1.

“It ain’t going to work, period,” Johnson said decisively. “It ain’t no personal attack on Wayne, or nothing like that. But if they’re counting on him to be their leader offensively as a wide receiver, I don’t see where it could happen.”

Johnson’s disparaging comments are the most stinging since the end of his rookie year, when he called Chrebet the “team mascot” in his autobiography.

Somehow, they co-existed as teammates for the next three seasons. But even with their lockers next to each other, they rarely spoke and tension brimmed.

Now, with their recent split, Chrebet wants to show he can handle the top spot.

“He’s definitely hungry to go out there and prove to people he can play with the best of them,” quarterback Vinny Testaverde said.

That will require taking on more of Johnson’s role. For example, the sixth-year Jet will be utilized on goal-line situations, an assignment he’s excited about.

“I took over some of the things he had been doing,” Chrebet said. “I’m real comfortable with it. It’s more chance to be on the field, more chance to make a play. It’s tough when you catch maybe two, three balls in a series, you help the team get down to the 15-, 10-yard line and then they take you out. That’s how it’s been. But times are changing.”

After accumulating a career-high 1,083 yards on 75 catches in ’98, Chrebet missed the first five games last season with a fractured left foot. He returned to start the final 11 games, but finished with a career-low 48 catches for 631 yards.

Stepping into the top spot this season, Chrebet knows he will regularly face double-coverage, which he sometimes saw last year, as well.

“I don’t mind that attention,” he said.

Actually, ever since his spectacular rookie season out of Hofstra, Chrebet has been garnering extra notices from opposing coaches. As the defensive coordinator for the Patriots, Al Groh said Chrebet used to drive him crazy.

“I was trying to figure out what to do with him on third down,” Groh, the first-year Jets coach, said yesterday. “Who is this guy? I never heard of this guy? But he got our attention in a hurry.

“I think he’s a little worse than annoying. He’s a problem.”

Still, Groh said he believes that Chrebet’s best years are ahead. He said that there’s still a lot for the Garfield, N.J.-native to learn about preparation, such as “knowing who he’s playing against, not just [what coverage] he’s playing against.”

As for the dangers of starting two receivers 5-10 and under (Dedric Ward is 5-9), Groh shooed off that thought by comparing them to the former Redskins’ tandem of Gary Clark and Ricky Sanders.

“They were a little hard to cover,” he said.

Now Groh is giving Chrebet the chance to prove he’s a No. 1 receiver. And to prove Johnson doesn’t know what he’s talking about.