Boardregeln » Jaquan Johnson

Shawn Lauvao Jersey , SSchool: Miami | Conference: ACCCollege Experience: Senior | Age: 22?Height / Weight: 5-11 / 190 lbsProjected Draft Status: 2nd or 3rd Round NFL Comparison: Lamarcus JoynerCollege StatisticsPlayer OverviewJaquan Johnson was a 4-star recruit from Miami, FL who chose to play for the hometown Hurricanes despite receiving offers from Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State, and many other notable big time programs. Johnson wanted a chance to play immediately and he got his chance during his freshman season. He started out on special teams but as the season went on he got worked into the safety rotation. Johnson really came into the national spotlight during his junior season (2017) when he was named to the All-American 2nd team. That season he earned Miami’s turnover chain several times with 4 interceptions, 3 forced fumbles, as well as 2 fumble recoveries. Johnson is on the small side for a safety but is extremely competitive, physical, and can fly all over the field. He is a prolific and sure tackler and he has the range and speed to stick in coverage. Manny Diaz, Miami’s former defensive coordinator, now Temple’s head coach now Miami’s head coach used Johnson a lot at the LOS to help cover the run and apply pressure. He also let Johnson drop back and cover the middle of the field too. Johnson considered coming out early but former Miami and NFL safety Ed Reed who is a mentor of Johnson’s convinced him to return for his senior season. I think Johnson has the skills to play either safety spot in the NFL and some teams may even entertain moving him to slot corner. Johnson will have to answer questions about why some of his production fell off this year on a Miami team that underwhelmed all season but I think he should remain one of the top safety prospects this year. StrengthsExtremely competitive and active player. He’s all over the field and flies to the ball especially in the box. Has great closing burst and is a solid and reliable tackler. He converts his speed to power really well for a player with his stature and can stop players much bigger than he is. Johnson has 188 tackles over the past two seasons. Good anticipation and timing in coverage, read and react ability is there and doesn’t hesitate much, uses his closing ability to break up passes. When patrolling the middle in zone coverage he can break in space and cut off the routes of receivers. Same goes for working in underneath zones. Has some versatility concerning which safety spot he’ll play at the next level depending on team scheme. Man coverage is decent enough that he could even be asked to play nickel. Fearless player who will take on any guy on the field.WeaknessesThe elephant in the room is his size. With his body of work if he were 3 inches taller and 15 lbs heavier he’s unquestionably be in the 1st round conversation. Related to the above sometimes he can get washed out at the LOS by offensive linemen. Has to learn how to disengage more effectively. If playing from the S spot this is particularly perilous if a stop isn't made at the second level.Much better zone player than man cover guy. I don’t think he should be moved from the safety position. Testing numbers (vertical, 40) will be important for him to score well in considering his stature. Let’s see his work:More Jaquan Johnson videosHow He Would Fit On The RedskinsIn my earlier safety profile for Mike Edwards the headline alluded to how the position was filled with uncertainty. That’s still the case and will be the case until the Redskins do something to address the position besides shoot themselves in the foot. Johnson could be a fit for the team at both safety spots and I would seriously consider giving him some time at free safety where he can show off his range and coverage skills. If that doesn’t float the defensive coordinator’s boat Johnson should do just fine at box safety and would bring some nice consistency and toughness to the position. He’ll mix it up with anyone and has a nose for the ball. He’ll come up and help play the run, he’ll blitz the QB and he’ll cover receivers and tight ends as well. I’m not sure if some college QBs flat out didn’t see him or underestimated him because of his size but Johnson made a living in 2017 picking off passes by jumping routes when he was in underneath coverage. I’m not sure how many packages the Redskins have that have a robber in them but he would be good in this role as well. The Redskins secondary has struggles with tackling and being able to anticipate and close in zone coverage. These are strengths of Johnson and even if nothing changes with the defense going forward his presence should upgrade the unit considering his skillset. Johnson has the skills to come in and start right away. The "Alex Smith Rule""The current CBA has only two years left to run before fans, players and owners could be faced once again with embittered labor negotiations and work stoppages (which means lost games).I wrote a title on an article shell about a month ago; that title read: What should the NFLPA be fighting for in the next CBA?As I often do, I typed a few notes into the body of the story so I could remember what inspired me to want to write it, and I left the shell of the article to sit until I had time to write it.There was no hurry; it could be published anytime in the next year and a half, and, as a university teacher, I have a ton of time available in May, June and July.Well, this weekend offers me a 5-day holiday as Thailand enjoys its traditional 3-day New Year celebration, called Songkran.I sat down to flesh out the article, but realized that some things had changed since I first sketched my notes for it.Chief among the changes is that two of the authors at OverTheCap have published a series of articles on this very topic — well-researched and well-written articles that don’t encompass all of the ideas I had sketched in my notes, but which dive much deeper than I had intended in the ideas they do cover.Of course Dexter Manley Jersey , they also touch on some ideas that I hadn’t considered at all.One of the thoughts that they put to paper that I hadn’t put into my notes is that of a “Salary Cap Amnesty”.I’ll let the OTC writers explain the concept:I had seen a “cap amnesty” idea floated in the comments section of Hogs Haven just days before I read this article, so OTC doesn’t have a monopoly on the concept, but I felt like Jason Fitzgerald and Vijay Natarajan did a good job of fleshing out the concept with enough detail to make it the sort of recommendation that could be meaningfully negotiated, written into a contract, and enforced with practical effect.To recap the key elements of their proposal:The amnesty would be triggered by a catastrophic injury, similar to the one suffered by Alex Smith (OTC also suggests that crimes committed by players be included).The team would trigger the amnesty themselves, but to avoid its use as a “get out of jail free” card on a bad contract, there would be some limitations:(i) an independent doctor has to examine the player and identify that his injury qualifies. This has a bit of the flavor of the independent neurologist that makes the call under the current concussion protocol.(I might expand this protection to 2 doctors, or perhaps a league panel of doctors to guard against roster & cap manipulation).(ii) a team is limited to using the amnesty a maximum of once per 4-year period (or possibly once per decade).This has the feel of coaches having a limited number of red-flags to be thrown for replay challenges, or the maximum of 2 players allowed to return from IR in a season.OTC recommends that the cap relief take the form of no accelerated dead cap charge.We’re lucky here that OTC used Alex Smith as the example, so no calculation is necessary.The article tells us that, under their proposed amnesty rule, the Redskins would have eaten the $5.4 charge for pro-rated bonus in 2018, but that the $52.6m dead cap hit that the Redskins have to deal with if they release Alex Smith now under the current CBA would disappear like a puff of smoke.Note: The OTC article doesn’t discuss the impact of the well-publicized insurance policy that the Redskins have to protect against Alex Smith catastrophic injury.That wrinkle is beyond the scope of this article as well, so I will simply ignore it, as if it didn’t exist.This is a detail that can be dealt with in the collective bargaining process.If this proposed amnesty had been in place under the current CBA, then, when the full extent of Alex Smith’s injury was realized and confirmed by independent doctor(s), then the Redskins front office could have “thrown a red flag” to initiate the amnesty.Smith would have counted $18.4m against the Redskins 2018 salary cap but Washington would have incurred no further cap charges from the contract.The Redskins would have cut him, paid him his guaranteed $71m (including the money paid prior to the injury), and walked away with Dan Snyder a bit cash poorer, but the team’s salary cap situation largely unimpacted.The team, under the OTC proposal, at least, would have been unable to utilize the Amnesty provision again until 2023 or later.