Antonio Johnson

A hard nosed downhill safety, Johnson played a majority of his snaps at the college level as a big slot defender.

He has the size to work through traffic up front, throwing his weight into blockers. He sees plays in front of him extremely well, blowing up screens or flying to short area pass catcher.

There aren’t a lot of plays where Johnson doesn’t arrive with striking force, looking for the big hit. The bonus of this is that he forced three fumbles in 2022, but the down side is that he misses tackles but coming up high with his shoulder.

I loved how quick his trigger was on throws to the flats our quick outs. The deeper and longer the route, the more he can become exposed. His hips in coverage when back pedaling are a little tight. He lacks the fluidity for one on one situations with shifty slot wide receivers. His comfort level was much higher against tight ends, where his physicality came back into play instead of quickness.

Overall Johnson plays with an edge that can set the tone up front against the run and short area pass game. Texas A&M rarely used him as a free safety and it’s easy to see why. If paired with a roaming ballhawk, he could make a ton of plays downhill without having an overwhelming amount of intermediate to deep coverage responsibilities behind him.