Once upon a time, Will Johnson was widely considered to be the upper corner of university football and was intended to be the Top 10 of the NFL 2025 draft.
But things have changed, and Johnson fell to the second round of the draft, where the Cardinals of Arizona made sure that its tuning ends there.
His fall was not something that happened in many, if someone. Apparently, the teams have long -term concerns about its knee and if it will hold the pros. Some have asked if he will even go beyond his recruit contract.
Who you’re talking about, Johnson’s knee may seem cataclysmic.
But if you speak to the cardinals, you will probably hear that they knew they could land Johnson on the second day and have their choice around elsewhere. They were correct in this hypothesis.
Now the cardinals have a high -flight cornerback in a talented room with a fire in his belly. Johnson is upset, he fell as far as he and he has the right to be. His fall was not something he controlled, and his camp believes that the stigma surrounding his knee is completely exaggerated.
If this is true, the NFL allowed an elite talent at the corner, a position approaching premium status, to fall on the second day of the draft and an emerging team to build an elite defense.
The marriage between Johnson and Arizona has several factors that make it a perfect correspondence, if you wanted it. The factors are so strong, in fact, that it could one day lead Johnson to be considered the theft of the project.
1) Crazy value
He is not often one of the best players in his position, and even less in the project, plummeting until the second day of the draft. It is not uncommon to see the players fall on the board, but Johnson’s shift in the middle of the second round was unprecedented.
This triggered a fire in his chest which ready to prove all the teams that have passed it badly. A player with the talent of Johnson combined with a chip on his shoulder the size of the sun is a deadly combination.
2) ends a position group
The Cardinals corner room is full of young talents. Garrett Williams is an elite nickel corner and Max Melton has shown the potential to be a more star. The rest of the room, including Sean Murphy-Bunting and Starling Thomas, helps the position group to become a force.
Adding Johnson is what puts the group above. This is the type of player you need to take a budding piece and transform them into an elite piece. I called Johnson the dog alpha essential for secondary school and it is because he does it for your team.
3) Revolutionary potential
The last factor X with Johnson is his ability to change games. You obviously have a player who improves a group and can become the high -kened of the room, but Johnson offers more than the simple fact of being a good player.
We have seen in its own right that he is able to play the game that changes the course of the game, no matter the size. His interception to open the second half of the National Championship match of the CFP 2023 was a set of tones that explained to us how the match was going to end in the victory for Michigan.
He made games like that throughout his career, and Arizona has no player with almost this type of defense capacity. Johnson is repairing this.
Other reasons
– We saw Johnson at his best show the ability to become the next closure corner of the League. The NFL is motivated by receivers who can make big games, but Johnson is able to erase these big games. He can make a part of it as evidenced by his choices of six caricatures.
– Johnson played against high -end competition and turned out to be “this guy”. He will be found with his former university rival, Marvin Harrison Jr, where he can remind everyone that he has his missions.
A player like Johnson does not present himself very often, and he certainly does not do so for the price that the cardinals have managed to catch him. Johnson can quickly reimburse the investment that cardinals made for him and transform this secondary into an elite.
For fans dreaming of a modern “fly zone”, Johnson could be the missing piece to bring them.
