With Rudy Ford questionable for Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Rams and Darnell Savage still on IR, the Green Bay Packers may have to rely on seventh-round rookie Anthony Johnson to start next to Jonathan Owens.
Ford was a full participant during Wednesday’s practice but then was limited on Thursday with a calf injury and he missed Friday’s practice.
Even with a full-blown competition taking place at safety over the summer for that starting spot next to Savage, Johnson spent most of his time playing with the second-team defense and often the third team. Not only is he a seventh-round rookie making the jump to the NFL, but this is also only his second season at the position, after spending his first four seasons at Iowa State playing cornerback.
“There is a few things, I won’t get into specifics, that I’m still kind of learning,” Johnson said on Friday. “There’s even things like, I told my old DB coach, Coach Broomfield, stuff that he taught me last year, I’m just now getting like ‘Oh that’s what he meant,’ and going to RD (Ryan Downard), and I’m like ‘Oh okay,’ and it’s clicking. It’s fun, that’s what makes it fun about the transition.
“Angles to the ball,” added Johnson when asked what those ‘specifics’ were. “Angles out the post and stuff like that. So that’s something that I’ve been working on and it’s been good.”
Johnson was inactive for the Packers’ first five games of the season. I imagine that as a late-round pick making this jump, in an ideal world from Green Bay’s perspective, this would almost would have been like a red-shirt season for Johnson. However, due to Savage being placed on IR, he has seen his role increase over the last two weeks, where he has not only been active, but has played 18 special teams snaps and eight on defense when Green Bay has been in dime and has three safeties on the field.
“It’s kind of wild because you go from inactive to right into the action,” said Johnson. “As far as the preparations piece, when you prepare like I do, you just step right in. Even when I was inactive I was still getting the call, and going through checks, I was playing the game on the sideline. I wasn’t standing on the sideline by everybody, I was playing the game on the sideline. So when I do get the opportunity I can step in and the defense doesn’t skip a beat and I know the flow of the game.”
Safeties coach Ryan Downard has discussed previously that he wants both of his safeties to be interchangeable, able to to play down in the box or in the post as a coverage defender. With this element, it becomes difficult for opposing offenses to decipher pre-snap what is taking place and what the specific responsibility of each safety will be.
During his one season as a safety at Iowa State, Johnson played 258 box snaps, according to PFF, 245 from the slot, and 74 as a free safety. His potential running mate, Jonathan Owens, took some lumps in coverage against Minnesota last week and in his one year as a starter with Houston, stood out more so for his tackling ability than what he did in coverage.
How Green Bay goes about pairing these two, as far as who has what specific responsibilities, whether that be in coverage or playing closer to the line of scrimmage, remains to be seen. For what it’s worth, Johnson did mention that he was working on his angles out of the post, which could tell us that he will take on more of the coverage responsibilities during Sunday’s game if called upon. Either way, my guess is that there won’t be a lot of changing of roles between the two throughout the game, given Johnson’s inexperience.
“It’s been a good transition,” said Johnson of the jump to the NFL. “I would say. It’s been a lot different than what I expected, in a good way. As far as vets helping you out. I may have mentioned before that I got a lot of guys that are in my corner and have been helping me since I stepped in the building. So I’m grateful for my room that I have.”
Along with there being question marks at safety, there are some unknowns at cornerback as well. Along with Rasul Douglas being in Buffalo, Jaire Alexander has been dealing with a back injury and Eric Stokes is on IR. Fellow rookie seventh-round pick Carrington Valentine is presumably in line for the start with Corey Ballentine and Robert Rochell – two practice squad players as of last week – as the backups.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is listed as questionable with a thumb injury. If he can’t go it will be Brett Rypien, but regardless of the quarterback, the Rams have a trio of receivers that can make plays. Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp have been dynamic on short to intermediate routes where they get the ball in space and pick up yards after the catch (YAC), while Tutu Atwell has been one of the NFL’s more productive downfield targets this season.
Owens and potentially Johnson are going to be tasked with not letting Atwell, or any of these receivers for that matter, get behind them, while also having to be very willing to play downhill and be sound tacklers to limit any YAC potential. Trusting their eyes, diagnosing what they see, and then reacting accordingly will be paramount to not only being position to make a play, but also not being out of position, which can lead to a blown assignment.
“Obviously it would mean a lot,” said Johnson, “from the aspect of go from something you dreamed about doing and then you’re there and being able to run out the tunnel, that would be a good part of it.”
