Antonio Johnson

Pos: SAF

School: Texas A&M

Ht. 6’2″ 

Wt. 198

Games Watched: Alabama, Miami, Arkansas

One Liner: Smart safety who wins with football IQ, aggressiveness, and versatility

Strengths: 

  • Very good football IQ. Johnson is able to pick apart route combinations and identifies where routes will end up, and breaks quickly towards the ball. In zone, his strength, Johnson plays with great instincts of route development and aggressively attacks upfield to contest the play. 
  • Very good aggressiveness. Johnson plays with a high motor, and looks to get involved however he can. When he is lined up deep, he comes flying down to help stop running plays. Running north to south, he plays with great athleticism and quickness to shut runs down. When he is in zone, he jumps passes with great burst and short area quickness to disrupt the flow of the pass.
  • Very good versatility. Johnson was extremely versatile in college and gave the Aggies tons of options with how they aligned Johnson. He played deep safety, box safety, corner, linebacker consistently and made an impact at each of these roles.

Weaknesses:

  • Adequate fluid athleticism. Johnson should not be used in man when he lines up as a nickel corner. His hips are a bit stiff, and his footwork in his cross step is unrefined. As a result he will get beat deep when lining up in the slot and facing deep ball threats. While he has good burst, Johnson doesn’t have the best change of direction ability and really should be relied upon to handle what is in front of him, not as a deep, single high safety.
  • Marginal tackling technique. Johnson needs to improve his tackling technique as his arm tackles often aren’t enough to finish a play off. Ball carriers can break his tackles more often than they should, and Johnson should also make sure not to overcommit when he comes flying down to make a play on the ball.

Overall Assessment: Antonio Johnson is a high IQ safety who can play all over the field as a nickel corner, strong safety and a box safety. Johnson plays with great intensity and bursts upfield to disrupt passes and halt running plays before they break big. He is a refined zone defender who knows where the ball could go and where he would have to break down and attack in order to throw off passing windows. Johnson isn’t hte most fluid athlete, and has some tightness in his hips that prevenets him from being a true press corner in the slot or on the boundary. He also lacks the change of direction ability to play single high safety at the next level. Johnson will have to control his intensity at times and make sure he doesn’t over pursue ball carriers. Johnson’s versatility and football smarts makes him a good zone defender that can play well against the run too.

Scheme Fit: Strong safety that can be relied upon to be a zone nickel corner

Pick Projection: Top 50

Grade: 6.37