NFL Free Agency: How does John Johnson help Cleveland’s playoffs hopes?
The 2020 NFL season has been all about the positives for the Browns as they finally made the jump from being the laughingstock of the NFL to being a contender. Last year, they finally broke the 18 long years of missing NFL playoffs. They went to Pittsburgh in a post-season game and gave the Steelers a thumping in their own backyard. They were one down away from taking down 2019 NFL Super Bowl winners, the Kansas City Chiefs.
Even with all the positives, there have been many holes in the 2020 NFL roster for the Browns. They were exceptional on the offense, scoring at will on their opponents. Baker Mayfield finally looked like the number one overall pick of the 2018 NFL draft. Finally, find an offensive coordinator who played to his strength.
Kevin Stefanski developed a run-heavy offense to ease a little pressure from his QB. However, there were positive strides made by Baker Mayfield in the second half of the 2020 NFL season. When the Browns’ Offense was clicking on all fronts, their defense let them down on multiple occasions. Many games were lost due to the defense not being able to get the stop. Mostly due to injuries at key positions.
NFL: The addition of John Johnson improves Cleveland’s Secondary.
The Cleveland Browns added safety from the top defense of the 2020 NFL season. John Johnson was the guy who helped get Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey lined up. He was one of the top safeties in free agency and the Browns were able to get the player for relatively cheap prices. A leader in defense who led the NFL as the top-rated defense for the 2020 season would be a great addition to the injury-ridden secondary for the Browns.
Even though Grant Delpit will be returning to the team this NFL season, there must be a little uncertainty about his ability to perform at the highest powers. If that may be the case, John Johnson provides veteran depth in the position of free safety. However, Johnson can play multiple places on the defense, allowing Joe Woods to play around.
Joe Woods likes to play with zone defense, which allows him to play with 3 safeties on defense. The addition of a versatile safety like Johnson along with Ronnie Harrison and Grant Delpit allowed Joe Woods to play them all in the same scheme and allowed Myles Garrett an extra few seconds to get to the quarterback.
John Johnson also brings his leadership skills to a safeties room with two young studs who can learn from a veteran player like him. John Johnson has been on the best defense for the past 4 years and people would listen to him. He will most certainly help the Browns make the next jump in the playoffs and improve their defense overall throughout the season.