Detroit Lions: 4 free agents that make sense in 2021
By Zach Payne
John Johnson, Safety, Rams
With the recent addition of Matthew Stafford, and the big contracts handed out to stars such as Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey, the Los Angeles Rams are in a bit of a salary cap cap crunch. They may have to let some key players walk, and one of those players is John Johnson.
Now, whether or not the Lions target Johnson, who is a strong safety that plays more in the box, or someone else like say Marcus Williams, who plays free safety, really depends on what this coaching staff plans on doing with Tracy Walker.
Walker is coming off a bit of a down year, which showcased some of his struggles in coverage. However Walker is still a young piece with upside as a safety, but defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn is going to have to decide where he wants Walker to play.
Moving Walker back to free safety and bringing in someone like Johnson makes a ton of sense. For starters, Holmes would already be very familiar with him from when he scouted Johnson as the former Rams’ director of college scouting. Additionally, Johnson is still young, at only 25 years old, so he could be a piece that sticks around for longer than the down years of this rebuild.
Last season, Johnson totaled over 100 total tackles to go along with eight passes defended and a single interception. He also did not miss a single snap last season for the Rams. Although it should be noted he missed 10 games in 2019 due to injury.
Johnson is a player that has shown he can be good in both the run and pass game, and could give a nice boost to a Lions secondary that was full of holes.