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Selection 1.16, Kevin Johnson, CB Wake Forest

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Selection 1.16, Kevin Johnson, CB Wake Forest

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Louis Riddick's #1 CB in this draft.


"Some coaches have told me that Johnson is the cleanest defensive back in this draft. He can play inside and outside, press or off coverage. All the defensive back coaches I talk to talk about his feet ... so quick. The only concern is his frame and durability, but this is a really good football player." -- Mike Mayock
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OVERVIEW
Selected second-team All-ACC in 2014, starting all 12 games and allowing just 24 completions all season long. Finished with 44 tackles, including 3.5 for loss. In 2013, was second in the conference with 15 passes defensed and finished with three interceptions. Selected honorable mention All-ACC in 2012, finishing second in ACC with 18 passes defensed. Ruled academically ineligible in 2011 and had to redshirt. Made 5 starts as a freshman in 2010. Played running back and cornerback for River Hill High (Md.). Was a member of the 2007 and 2008 2A state title teams and was selected first-team All-State his senior season.

STRENGTHS Smooth hips with excellent balance. Very natural in man coverage. Has feet and discipline to play square and mirror against complex routes. Has low, controlled backpedal. Disruptive in press coverage -- alters routes and slows receivers. Can easily transition laterally and has quick-twitch to break on throws in front of him. Flips hips and accelerates against vertical routes. Crowds wideouts on perimeter and constricts target area for deep boundary throws. Plays stronger than his listed weight. Has athleticism and enough speed to recover when beaten. Decisive player. Fights to disengage and support against the run. Willing to drop shoulder and lay lumber as zone defender. Usually followed opponent's best receiver around the field.

WEAKNESSES Has a lanky frame with a very thin lower body. Gets fooled by head fakes downfield and turned around too often. Late to turn and find ball at times. Missed too many tackles as senior. Thin frame a concern as NFL run supporter. Will show too much respect to deep speed and allow separation by receivers who slam on brakes and catch passes in front of him. Ejected from Louisville game for targeting. Flagged nine times for 132 yards over the last two seasons.

BOTTOM LINE Johnson is a three-year starting cornerback who showed great improvement in man coverage from 2013 to 2014. While he lacks desired weight at the position, his cover skills, athleticism and competitiveness give him a shot to come in and start right away. Johnson can play gunner on special teams.
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Jayson Braddock @JaysonBraddock
My Eval on new Texan, Kevin Johnson: Gave a Top 15 grade, my comp was Joe Haden. Cover corner, strong zone / Man / Off. Complete CB.

KJ cont'd: Insane instincts!!! Does it all well. Smart in coverage, takes angles knowing WRs routes, frustrates WRs w/ football IQ.

Insane transition when pedaling & breaking. Can't shake this kid. Tech savvy. On WRs like glue. Deadly straightline attack to the ball.
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I'm surprised however they wasted no time picking him so must be who they wanted. I think this could be a 2nd round pick. We left some great talent on the board.
 
Good pick. Great coverage ability. Checks all the boxes: production, clean character, no injury history, great athleticism.

All substance with little flash. Fans will hate it but he'll be a good player for us.
 
OK, LOL at Thorn. I was wondering why there were so many people here tonight. I had totally forgotten today was the draft.

Wow. :lol:
 
I hate this ****ing pick with a passion.

We have more depth at CB than you can shake a cottonwood stick at and we have to pick the skinniest cottonwood stick.

This does not smack of a win now mentality, considering who was on the board on both sides of the ball.
 
So pissed, position we have the most talent at is CB, let's just draft another one instead of finally getting a SLB like Dupree.
 
BAD pick for me, not because of him as a player, but because we have some really talented young CBs already on the team.

Bouye
Morris
Hal
That one dude whos name i can't remember......

We should of taken a WR there, there was still some good talent left.
 
This guy wasn't hyped up by the media but he really doesn't have any glaring weaknesses in his game. In the draft thread I said "I'm good with this pick" and I'll stand by it. I'll let the draftniks post more info on him

JJ Watt wasn't loved by the media leading up to the draft too.
 
vERY SURPISED WITH dUPREE STILL ON THE bOAR ? nnOT SAYING IT'S A BAD PICK - cAN'T ever HAVE ENOUGH CORNERS.
 
Lucky said:
I don't know about that. But, he'll have to prove he's more than a slot CB. He could be dominated by the bigger WRs so prevalent in the league.
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I'm not saying he is a horrible player, its just our linebackers are garbage, we got no receivers behind Nuk, and no starting center. We've got 2 legit starting CB's with good depth behind them. This pick makes no sense for us.
 
Kevin Johnson @KevJr9
.@TideNFL Couldn't be more pumped to rock the Deep Steel Blue! #Texans, let's get #OurColors ready for '16! #Spon

Deandre ‏@Nukdabomb
@KevJr9 the best DB I played against in college and he was only a freshman
 
Brandon420tx said:
This guy wasn't hyped up by the media but he really doesn't have any glaring weaknesses in his game. In the draft thread I said "I'm good with this pick" and I'll stand by it. I'll let the draftniks post more info on him

JJ Watt wasn't loved by the media leading up to the draft too.
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Or the hometown fans. That pick was loudly booed at the draft party when it was announced.
 
Houston Texans: Kevin Johnson, CB, Wake Forest: B+ Grade
The Texans weren't going to select Melvin Gordon because they targeted Kevin Johnson all along, once they realized that Todd Gurley was not going to fall to them. We were advised to put Johnson in the top half of our mock drafts by several teams leading up to the draft. Johnson didn't get much buzz amongst the media because he wasn't a sexy name, but he's a very skilled cornerback and a very underrated prospect. He projects as a strong No. 2 corner across from Kareem Jackson once Johnathan Joseph moves on.
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http://walterfootball.com/nfldraftgrades.php
 
I would have taken Parker if he slipped a bit more, but I'm actually perfectly fine with taking the arguably best or second-best CB right now. Johnson looks like he's got all the speed/quick-twitch/heady CB skills. Might need a year to bulk himself up, to press up on the WRs but looks like he's got the zone-coverage skills right now.
 
I haven't the slightest idea who this guy is, but I do like what I've been reading about him. I'd have liked a LB in the 1st round, but this guy seems to be fine.

Hell, we all know drafting ANYBODY has risks to it.
 
QuiGonGinNTonic said:
jj is in his last year

edit: just like ed reed at age 32
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Yeah but we have so much GOOD depth at CB right now as it is. Makes zero sense to me to make your first priority a CB. We have no LBs, no depth on the D-line, no depth at WR behind Nuk, besides Shorts who you can't trust to be healthy.
 
texan279 said:
We've got 2 legit starting CB's with good depth behind them. This pick makes no sense for us.
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I understand that. I thought they would take a CB at some point. I just feel the value at the position was in the 2nd to 3rd. And we may have drafted the least physical CB among the top 6 or 7.
 
Strengths: Smooth hips with excellent balance. Very natural in man coverage. Has feet and discipline to play square and mirror against complex routes. Has low, controlled backpedal. Disruptive in press coverage - alters routes and slows receivers. Can easily transition laterally and has quick-twitch to break on throws in front of him. Flips hips and accelerates against vertical routes. Crowds wideouts on perimeter and constricts target area for deep boundary throws. Plays stronger than his listed weight. Has athleticism and enough speed to recover when beaten. Decisive player. Fights to disengage and support against the run. Willing to drop shoulder and lay lumber as zone defender. Usually followed opponent’s best receiver around the field.

Weaknesses: Has a lanky frame with a very thin lower body. Gets fooled by head fakes downfield and turned around too often. Late to turn and find ball at times. Missed too many tackles as senior. Thin frame a concern as NFL run supporter. Will show too much respect to deep speed and allow separation by receivers who slam on brakes and catch passes in front of him. Ejected from Louisville game for targeting. Flagged nine times for 132 yards over the last two seasons.

Draft Projection: Round 1 or 2

NFL Comparison: Sam Shields

Bottom Line: Johnson is a three-year starting cornerback who showed great improvement in man coverage from 2013 to 2014. While he lacks desired weight at the position, his cover skills, athleticism and competitiveness give him a shot to come in and start right away. Johnson can play gunner on special teams.
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NFL.com draft analysis
 
Quickest CB in the draft. Finally gives us a player that can match up against TY Hilton. We have the luxury of having Jo Jo mentor him his rookie season so he can be eased in as a starter in year two. It's a passing league and we have taken steps this offseason to combat that.
 
My concern is we are going to need to score more points this year to win games. Its pretty likely we won't force the most turnovers again and adding some speed on the offensive side of the ball needs to be a priority at some point this off season.
 
Brandon420tx said:
The reason I like this pick is now it looks like our worst CB going into the season will be Hal, and I like Hal
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We need 3 starting corners with all of the nickle packages and then Joseph is gone next year so this is a smart pick. Hey, maybe Johnson is the next Darell Revis, who knows ? But he was generally rated the top corner after Wayes who was of course was already off of the Texans Board.
 
EllisUnit said:
Yeah but we have so much GOOD depth at CB right now as it is. Makes zero sense to me to make your first priority a CB. We have no LBs, no depth on the D-line, no depth at WR behind Nuk, besides Shorts who you can't trust to be healthy.
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My thoughts exactly.
 
This, is, a, passing league and what, every team, in the 2, min gut check time 4th qtr no time outs play in nickel and dime and we will need 3 good cb on the field lets, just hope now, our secondary will be a, beast this year even if we don't get pressure on the qb
 
EllisUnit said:
Yeah but we have so much GOOD depth at CB right now as it is. Makes zero sense to me to make your first priority a CB. We have no LBs, no depth on the D-line, no depth at WR behind Nuk, besides Shorts who you can't trust to be healthy.
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For good or bad we don't draft for need. Lots of good receivers in this draft that can be had in rd2. I agree on our LBers but I'd hate for us to be a team drafting for need.
 
NFL Access ‏@NFL_Access 41s42 seconds ago
Texans are reportedly working to trade back into the first round
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Edit: sorry this post should have been in the 2015 NFL draft thread
 
frethack said:
For good or bad we don't draft for need. Lots of good receivers in this draft that can be had in rd2. I agree on our LBers but I'd hate for us to be a team drafting for need.
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Ummm, when the talent is there, you should draft based on need. Only time you should go BPA is if the guy you want isn't there or if you have no glaring weaknesses, and i can think of 4 positions who need help. CB is not one of them.
 
TheRealJoker said:
Quickest CB in the draft. Finally gives us a player that can match up against TY Hilton. We have the luxury of having Jo Jo mentor him his rookie season so he can be eased in as a starter in year two. It's a passing league and we have taken steps this offseason to combat that.
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3rd Cbs are a starting player in this league in that he is largely on the field 60% to 70% of the time in the average week. the guys on the radio station here thought he was a clean 1st round CB just slight undersized...were not surprised at the range Johnson.
 
Norg said:
Most teams rarely pick a, ilb first round no value there just wait till the 3rd or 4th round
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Rick Smith is 1 for 3 in first round picks in the 3 drafts before tonight, I'll be damned if I trust him in rounds 2-7.
 
TheIronDuke said:
At least DE was a position of need, we have no need for a god damn matchstick CB.
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LOL he's the same size as Joseph.

And CB is a position of need. We're just filling the need before it becomes a sinkhole. By the time Joseph is gone his replacement will already be trained and ready to step in.
 
Alot of people are angry about this pick because they don't see how it helps this team THIS year.

I like this pick because I can see how we'll benefit in the years going forward. The more I research this kid the more I like him. I think he can be a great #2 then #1 with KJ after 2 seasons.

Everyone remember those years the Steelers seemed to always have amazing OLBs? It wasn't a miracle, they continually kept drafting OLBs despite their strength at the position
 
bah007 said:
LOL he's the same size as Joseph.

And CB is a position of need. We're just filling the need before it becomes a sinkhole. By the time Joseph is gone his replacement will already be trained and ready to step in.
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I agree, it's not a sexy pick, but it's a smart one. Patriotsesque
 
EllisUnit said:
Ummm, when the talent is there, you should draft based on need. Only time you should go BPA is if the guy you want isn't there or if you have no glaring weaknesses, and i can think of 4 positions who need help. CB is not one of them.
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There are different draft philosophies. I respect your opinion but after getting burned by TY I'm good with taking a solid, talented corner that can play inside and outside. The kid is a technician.
 
ArlingtonTexan said:
3rd Cbs are a starting player in this league in that he is largely on the field 60% to 70% of the time in the average week. the guys on the radio station here thought he was a clean 1st round CB just slight undersized...were not surprised at the range Johnson.
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Which radio station? Stuck somewhere without radio access.
 
bah007 said:
LOL he's the same size as Joseph.

And CB is a position of need. We're just filling the need before it becomes a sinkhole. By the time Joseph is gone his replacement will already be trained and ready to step in.
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Morris and Bouye looked good this year and we have Hal in the wings. Have dick at SAM besides Simon.
 
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