The Texans draft watch series continues with a look at Virginia DE/OLB Cam Johnson.
Let there be no doubt about Johnson's athleticism. The former Washington D.C. area high school wide receiver and defensive back played two seasons at Virginia as an outside linebacker in former head coach Al Groh's 3-4 defense before being switched to defensive end when Groh was replaced by Mike London (and a 4-3 defense) in 2010.
By the way, if London's name sounds familiar it's because he was the Texans defensive line coach in 2005.
Johnson added some lbs. while at Virginia as he's now in the high 260's after entering college at 220 lbs. four years ago. Johnson is sometimes referred to as a 'tweener' and has retained much of his quickness from his lighter days but the more I see and read, I think the lean is toward 4-3 defensive end vs. 3-4 outside linebacker in the NFL.
"Johnson was listed as a linebacker on the roster sheet (at the Senior Bowl), but predominantly played with his hand down in practice. He showed a better than expected burst off the edge and anchored against the run well. He’ll get looks from 4-3 and 3-4 teams in need of a pass rusher." - New York Times
Johnson had a strong junior season at Virginia and started his senior year on the Lombardi and Hendricks Award watch lists. He showed flashes at the Senior Bowl, beating Ohio State tackle Mike Adams in one-on-ones and showing great pursuit from sideline to sideline during the game.
SI.com's Tony Pauline noted Johnson's quickness off the edge at a Senior Bowl practice.
"(Johnson) has displayed a lot of quickness and speed off the edge in one-on-one drills," Paluine wrote.
A force at times, Johnson has also battled inconsistency. His senior season was so-so statistically, partially due to a leg injury. But there were other concerns too, at least prior to last season.
Coach London speculated last August whether a sickle cell trait might be the cause of Johnson's up and down play.
"The NCAA tests all athletes now for these traits," London said. "I don't know if there's a correlation to (not) being in the best cardiovascular shape. I don't know if medication changes that, but there's greater awareness. (Johnson has) had this for a couple of years.
"(He) can go hard for two or three plays; then, on that fifth or sixth play, (he's) gassed. In workouts this summer with (strength coach) Evan (Marcus), he'd be out front, out front, out front. Then, all of a sudden, it's, 'What are you doing?'
"Now it becomes a matter of management. Get him out, get him rested, get him back in." (The Roanoke Times)
Johnson appeared to use his coach's words as motivation heading into last season but you can bet that his medical condition will be reviewed closely by NFL teams at the scouting combine.
NFLDraftScout.com currently has Johnson ranked as their #9 defensive end with a Round 2-3 grade. I'm not sure whether it's an oversight or not, but this site doesn't have OLB listed as Johnson's position #2.
Pro Football Weekly is a bit less forgiving giving Johnson a fourth round grade.
Will the Texans be calling Cam Johnson's name during the first few rounds the draft? Not feeling it. But maybe that's just me.
Cam Johnson, DE/OLB Virginia (projection and position rank from nfldraftscout.com)
- 6-4, 267
- DOB: May 24, 1990
- Projected draft round (2-3)
- Position rank: ranked #9 out of 240 DE's
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