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Welcome to Houston Lonnie Johnson Jr.

Mangler

Toro de España
Apparently not very book smart. Weird that the Texans strayed away from their baby Einstein expectations of a draftee. I love what I’m seeing from his tape!
 

zshawn10

All Pro
I’m higher on Lonnie Johnson than just about every draft analyst. Love his untapped potential.

Should be a difference maker for the Texans.

— Jonah Tuls (@JonahTulsNFL) April 27, 2019


LOVE the Lonnie Johnson pick. Very versatile, and he's got the size to really challenge the ball in the air. Not a burner, but if you protect him over the top he can really be a great piece.

— Brett Kollmann (@BrettKollmann) April 27, 2019
 

WolverineFan

Hall of Fame
Excellent press/man coverage corner! Should be an immediate starter...
If we actually play more press this year then he will be set up to succeed. If we keep playing off then he's going to struggle.

Going by how Crennel called the defense last year, I'd bet at Joseph/Roby starting outside with Johnson as your first guy off the bench and with Colvin in the slot.
 

IDEXAN

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
I like his film. But couldn't academically qualify to save his life. As long as there are no English Lit exams in preseason I think he'll start.
Screw English Lit. What I want playing CB for my team is a guy studying for an engineering degree with a double major in math.
I dunno can he play football ?
 

TheKDog

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
The Good

– Elite size and excellent length (32 2/8 inch arms), certainly looks the part
– Length helps him to play the pocket, able to break up passes and make plays other can’t
– Tracks the ball in the air well, good hands to make the play
– Fluidity in his turn out of his pedal to defend the deep ball
– Shows enough long speed to carry vertical routes in man-to-man coverage
– Flashes physicality and hit power coming downhill
– Shows special teams value and ability to block kicks/field goals
– Experience at both outside corner spots

The Bad

– Shows stiffness and late awareness breaking down and transitioning against breaking routes (curls, digs, etc)
– Change of direction ability, lateral mobility needs work, fighting how tall and long he is
– Struggles with his punch in press man, routinely strikes with the wrong hand, causing his hips to be late getting open and giving a clean, quick release to the receiver
– Good but not great athlete, better straight-line than anything else
– Lacks starting and collegiate experience, only two years at the FBS level
– Very limited production and didn’t make many impact plays

I view him as a Cover 3 corner. Good in a line. Everything else is questionable. In Steelers’ parts, you can compare him favorably – or not – to Brian Allen. Also see some Jalen Collins in his game too, minus the off field issues.

https://steelersdepot.com/2019/02/2019-nfl-draft-player-profiles-kentucky-cb-lonnie-johnson/
 

pirbroke

Veteran
Kinda feeling with free agents and this draft we may be more man up coverage with maybe safety help on speedster. Less zone ?
Thoughts?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 

CloakNNNdagger

Hall of Fame
What a story!..............I think I can overlook his less than stellar academia................his story rather is one of survival.

****************************************************************************************************

Lonnie Johnson moving on from his hometown's violence, pain
  • By Chase Goodbread
  • College Football 24/7 writer
  • Published: April 17, 2019 at 02:18 p.m.
  • Updated: April 23, 2019 at 11:46 a.m.
 

TheKDog

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
I wonder how high the Texans had him on their board. He ended up being the EIGHTH cb taken.

Could have taken the first CB then hoped Howard fell...
 

Mr teX

Hall of Fame
I had never heard of him. Only watched 1st round. Who was still available whom you liked better?
Outside of the 1st round selection I haven’t the slightest clue. I don’t get too worked up about the draft like some in here do. O just wait to see who they pick and watch what I can afterwards to see if I like them or not.
 

TheKDog

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
At best you mean acceptable straight line speed...and calling it straight line speed is another knock.



And why have only one?

Plus a lot of the speedsters have better hops negating much if not all of any height advantage.
Unfortunately 7 CBs were already gone. Probably should have used the first round pick on one
 

TheKDog

Hall of Fame
Contributor's Club
Johnson generated major scouting attention at the Combine with top-six SPARQ results among cornerbacks invited, including 4.52 speed with explosive vertical (38") and broad (10’9") jumps. Johnson is a traits-based project with a high ceiling based on his size-athleticism combo but a low floor with sub-par ball skills and no history of dominant play.


https://www.rotoworld.com/college-football/nfl-draft/player/49851/lonnie-johnson
 

JWLCASPER

Waterboy
At best you mean acceptable straight line speed...and calling it straight line speed is another knock.



And why have only one?

Plus a lot of the speedsters have better hops negating much if not all of any height advantage.
Most teams have 1 and 1 to match a typical X and Z. Old football methods die hard. The tall physical corner (Talib/Ramsey) for the X paired with a faster, shiftier CB2 to match up on the Z (Harris/Fuller).

The Texans have had trouble with offensive coordinators who use the Z as the WR1 (Chiefs Hill/Colts Hilton). Our corners have been too redundant for about 5 years now.
 

Wolf12339

Waterboy
Johnson generated major scouting attention at the Combine with top-six SPARQ results among cornerbacks invited, including 4.52 speed with explosive vertical (38") and broad (10’9") jumps. Johnson is a traits-based project with a high ceiling based on his size-athleticism combo but a low floor with sub-par ball skills and no history of dominant play.


https://www.rotoworld.com/college-football/nfl-draft/player/49851/lonnie-johnson
My main worry with Johnson is he rarely made plays on the ball. Not a turnover causing ball hawk.
 

infantrycak

Hall of Fame
Most teams have 1 and 1 to match a typical X and Z. Old football methods die hard. The tall physical corner (Talib/Ramsey) for the X paired with a faster, shiftier CB2 to match up on the Z (Harris/Fuller).
I don't think your quantification is accurate. Many teams play sides not WRs. Or they play best on best regardless of size. And you rarely see the slot CB move outside if the slot WR moves out.

The Texans have had trouble with offensive coordinators who use the Z as the WR1 (Chiefs Hill/Colts Hilton). Our corners have been too redundant for about 5 years now.
This does nothing to correct that.
 

JWLCASPER

Waterboy
I don't think your quantification is accurate. Many teams play sides not WRs. Or they play best on best. And you rarely see the slot CB move outside if the slot WR moves out.



This does nothing to correct that.
Best on best is usually, not always, but usually the physical corner vs the physical X. Most teams “best” is the most physical. I agree with you that Johnson Jr. doesn’t address the “Z” matchup. That falls on Roby as I referenced above. Joseph will still get the X unless Johnson Jr. shows out.

Most corners don’t travel, but the matchup theories are ingrained from old school methods. You need one physical corner for the X, and one speedy corner for the Z. Roby was the Z fix for this year, and thus why I said like it or not.

I wasn’t high on Roby coming out of college nor at Denver, however he IS something we haven’t had in a while, a man to man corner that can run and match up with the Z like Hill and Hilton.
 

infantrycak

Hall of Fame
Best on best is usually, not always, but usually the physical corner vs the physical X.
No they aren't. Aaron Glenn was best with the larger Marcus Coleman opposite. JJo was best with KJax opposite. Darrelle Revis was best with Antonio Cromartie opposite.

Best is generally the "cover" guy regardless of size.
 

Max

Veteran
I'm going to have to see how we're using Johnson before I can get excited about him. The highlight clips they showed after drafted looked like our normal db's -- too much cushion opening up the underneath passing game that seems to kill us. He does seem to close fast but I'd rather take away the underneath game w/ press coverage and get backside help and give our pass rush a little longer to get home. Looks like his length helps him breaking up passes down field and may be an upgrade to KJax in that regard and he doesn't shy away from contact in run support. Zierlein says "he could be tied to a press-and-trail scheme where some of his coverage deficiencies can be covered up" which is exactly how I hope we use him but I didn't see the press coverage on tape. Anyone have a sense if we'll use him as a press corner?
 

Rich Schmidt

Myopicone
I'm going to have to see how we're using Johnson before I can get excited about him. The highlight clips they showed after drafted looked like our normal db's -- too much cushion opening up the underneath passing game that seems to kill us. He does seem to close fast but I'd rather take away the underneath game w/ press coverage and get backside help and give our pass rush a little longer to get home. Looks like his length helps him breaking up passes down field and may be an upgrade to KJax in that regard and he doesn't shy away from contact in run support. Zierlein says "he could be tied to a press-and-trail scheme where some of his coverage deficiencies can be covered up" which is exactly how I hope we use him but I didn't see the press coverage on tape. Anyone have a sense if we'll use him as a press corner?
The discussion on 610 was he was very physical at the senior bowl man handling receivers at the LOS so seems he can play press. Story was the receivers were plain beat up after him and another CB got done with them, so I liked hearing that
 

TheRealJoker

Hall of Fame
The discussion on 610 was he was very physical at the senior bowl man handling receivers at the LOS so seems he can play press. Story was the receivers were plain beat up after him and another CB got done with them, so I liked hearing that
Funny how the Texans took only 1 player last draft in Akins from the Senior Bowl they were coaching but their first 3 picks this year were all Senior Bowl standouts.
 
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