Packers Draft Primer - Chris Johnson - CB - San Diego State

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What is up, Green Bay Packers fans and welcome back to another episode of The Daily Draft.

I'm your host, Ross Oglin, the publisher of Pack Report. And today we're going to talk about Chris

Johnson. Not the running back, not CJ2K. We're going to talk about the corner back out of San Diego

State. And I will kind of give up the ghost here and just tell you, my pick for the Green Bay Packers

at number 52. It's realistic. He is outside the consensus top 30. He absolutely could go.

I've done a couple of math graphs where he goes 51. I can't remember a heart percent who the

team is drafting right in front of Green Bay. But he goes 51 in like three mock drafts that I've

gone and I've said curse words. But Chris Johnson is my favorite pick for the Packers at 52,

which of course, be barring trade their first selection this season. If they were picking in

the mid 20s, I would be fine with them taking it. Like if they had the pick they traded to Dallas

and they took Chris Johnson, I would not blank. In fact, I'd be a little happy. I really,

really like this kid. Why? Let's get into the pros. He's an ideal athlete for the position. He's

tall at a shade over six feet. But not too tall that you'd worry about wiggle, right? Like some of

these really, really tall corners struggle to move side to side to move laterally. Kevin King,

despite unbelievable short shuttle in three cone times, had trouble being sticky,

trouble moving his hips, trouble sinking his hips, trouble with that, right? Like as much fun as

it would be to have six foot three and six foot four corners, it is a very, very difficult

position to play for super tall people. And that's why you don't see a bunch of them. Teryk

Woolen is a freak and not the norm. And that's why he's been so valuable. And ultimately why he

signed a one year deal so that he can sign a mega deal next off season because he wasn't even

getting the number that he liked. But yeah, not a ton of six foot four corners. And Chris Johnson

is right at six feet, which is great for a big physical corner, but certainly still has the ability

to move. He's dense enough to play for Green Bay. He's strong, fast, explosive, and agile.

He's a 98th percentile athlete, and we're only waiting on the three cone drill.

Short shuttle, which is also for agility, was above the 85th percentile corner. And he,

so in general, he is not missing four of the main, you know, the four main athletic gifts. And when

I say the four, I mean, strength, speed, explosion, agility. You know, long speed is different than

explosive movements, which would be vertical jump, broad jump, and your ten yard split and your

40. Those are really important because, you know, by and large footballs played on eight yard

fields, six yard fields, four yard fields, play in, play out. Yes, there are explosive plays. But

what happens at the line of scrimmage and around the line of scrimmage is incredibly, incredibly

important. I believe Chris Johnson to be scheme versatile. I think you could play both man and

zone, meaning if you lose Jonathan Ganon or you fire Jonathan Ganon or whatever, you don't have

to move on from Chris Johnson. If you have a change or if Jonathan Ganon wants to run multiple

different coverages in the same game, which does happen, folks, I think he can be on the field at

all times. I think he can do both. I think understands route combinations really well.

Understands where the ball is supposed to go for the offense and understands, you know, a lot

of the times kind of where his receiver is on his way to even before the receiver is on his way

to that place. He's a really fluid athlete. And that does not always happen with the guys that

are super twitchy. You get guys with crazy explosive numbers, crazy speed numbers. But their

movements look choppy, right? And he's just so darn fluid. He's productive on the football.

He had four interceptions last year, which I believe would beat all of the Packers cornerbacks

combined, which is not a great thing, but it is real. And you want to talk about a number that

would beat all of the Packers cornerbacks combined. You get a 15.5 pass rating when targeted.

15.5. I think you get like a 37 pass rating if you just throw it at the ground every time.

So that's how good Chris Johnson was. I'll say this. He tries in the run game and he's a tape

capable Tackler. Believe me, missed four tackles all of last season, which is not a perfect number,

but it's not a problematic number either. He's fine. Fine to fine plus in the run game and as a

tackler. Cons. Occasionally struggles the high point to football, even given his excellent size,

not I would say elite in contested catch situations. Fine, but again, not elite, right? Like if

these are reasons right now, now I'm giving you reasons why he's not a first round pick. Because

everything that I said before, first round pick. So why could he potentially be available at 52?

The con section is obviously where we're going to get to that.

Played at the mid-major level at San Diego State. Didn't see power five receivers across from.

Now I don't care about that stuff much. Obviously you see the NDSU

deal on. You know how I feel about, you know, ball is ball and you can either play or you can't.

But there is something to be said about the quality wide receivers that he went up against.

But again, like Quinion Mitchell went to Toledo, Sascarga went to Cincinnati.

Chavarius Ward didn't go to a big-time school to Rick Woolen didn't go to a big-time school.

All these guys came from non-traditional schools. Packers fans will certainly remember

Tramon Williams who went to Louisiana attack. Like I just don't care. And I especially don't care

about it at corner. Corner is such a athleticism-based position and in a twitch-based position. And

man, you just, you got to be a dog and a lot of times it doesn't matter where you went to college.

Like I said, my favorite, my favorite corner prospect to like the last three years went to Toledo,

right? So not something I care about. But again, some teams will consider it. Some teams will

knock him whatever for a playing at San Diego State and be not going up against a much

of dudes weekend and week out. And I understand that.

We'll be right back.

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H-E-L-P dot com slash 89 to get started. I think you work on his clicked clothes. I don't think

he always fires downhill. You know, I mentioned that he's a fluid athlete. I don't know that his

explosive ability that you see in his testing really matches on like curls and comeback routes.

So when I'm talking about that, I'm talking about when he's in zone coverage, right? And he has

deep responsibilities, but a player runs a comeback route or runs a stop route or runs something going

back towards the quarterback. I would like to see him be able to stick his foot in the ground and

go break up that pass more often than he does or at least go make a really physical tackle. And a

lot of times receivers are able to create cushion on those routes back towards the quarterback.

So that's something that I noticed and something I wanted to make a point of.

The other last thing I guess that I would put in the cons would just be that he could be probably

a more successful press man corner for a guy of his size, right? He is the size that you would

want to be if sort of the Lord built a press man corner. And oftentimes he presses without jamming

too and that doesn't always go great. And what I mean by that is like he'll line up in your face,

but not punch you. Now, if you punch and miss, you got all sorts of problems oftentimes going

on behind you. But he'll kind of press and then just get into his back pedal, maybe hand fight

with you a little bit, but just not as good in press man as you'd like for a corner. That's that

big decent in man, not super awesome in press man. Guys, once again, the daily draft is brought

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It's a tough time for media. It just is. And I know, you know, you get to talk about the Packers

and then you get paid and it's a dream. It is the dream. But it's again, it's a tough time. We

appreciate your support. No need to feel bad for us. It's just we would appreciate your support.

100%. All right, Packer's fit. The press man stuff doesn't really matter because

number one, halfway, like people said, halfway was going to do it and he didn't. And number two,

they don't have any other press man corners. And number three, most of the time, Jonathan Ganon's

going to be in split safety looks specifically quarters anyway. So it's fine, right? So that aspect

of it is not a huge deal. He has the size to play outside in cover three, cover four, cover six,

what have you? If they're going to do a bunch of that stuff with Ganon, he's going to be fine,

he's going to excel at it. He'll be a tier one fit as far as like what they want. And I think

we talked about this with Dominique Orange, right? The Packers kind of whatever were good with

whatever athletically a defense attacker, they are not good with whatever athletically at corner.

It's, you know, 190 pounds. It's at least 510 and a half. It's, you know, got to run this fast,

got to be this agile like they care about athleticism at corner and they should.

I used to live with a defensive back at NDSU. I played both corner and free safety, got a

cup of coffee with the chargers. And he told me that corner is the easiest position in football to

play mentally. It is the hardest athletically. And the Green Bay Packers care a ton about

athleticism at corner. It is extremely, extremely important and he will fit exactly what they want.

They love the West Coast. They always have prospects. He's ideal. Not only just the West Coast,

but even that Mountain West Conference, right? You know, Cordy Hall went to Boise State,

Devonte Adams, to Fresno State. James Jones went to San Jose State. They've been up in the

Mountain West. They have absolutely no problem. They love the West Coast. So if you're worried about

guys coming to the Packers from San Diego State or from that conference, they're good with the

Mountain West for sure. Once again, I think he is my favorite realistic pick for selection 52.

Guys have asked, Hey, is there pressure on the second round pick to start? Since they don't have

a first round pick, I would say no. With that said, I believe strongly he would be their best corner.

If they draft Chris Johnson at 52, they should start him. I don't care. I do care who sits. You

guys all know who I think should sit. But the point is, if they draft Chris Johnson at 52,

he absolutely should be thrown in the fire as an outside corner. Game one day one.

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