Houston Texans: Kevin Johnson gets himself a ringing endorsement
Kevin Johnson has officially entered into bust territory. Entering his fourth season, can the former Houston Texans first-round pick finally live up to expectations? Let’s talk about it.
The Houston Texans secondary was absolutely burnt to a crisp last year. They allowed many passes to be complete and gave up a ton of yards to the opposing team’s quarterback. Kevin Johnson was one of the main players to blame as he was one of the root causes of concern for the Texans defensive faults last season.
When healthy, Johnson has shown that he can be a good and productive cornerback for this Houston Texans team. But when he’s bad, it’s not certainly not a good sight and teeters along edges of being cringe-worthy.
According to PFF, Johnson was the WORST cover cornerback in the NFL with a whopping final grade of a 33.2. I don’t think it gets worse than that. But when you are rock bottom, perhaps the only way to go is up.
I think Johnson will be out to surprise a lot of doubters this season. I’m sure he is tired of hearing that he is a bust plus. However, he is running out of time as his contract is about to be up.
Granted, Johnson’s fifth-year option was picked up by the Houston Texans earlier this year. So, he technically has two more years in a Texans uniform. However, there is a time period where the team can cut him before that last year becomes fully-guaranteed.
I’m 100 percent sure that Brian Gaine won’t be hesitant to let Kevin Johnson walk at the end of the season if he performs poorly. No reason to keep a guy around that is a weak link on a loaded Texans roster that is a Super Bowl contender with Watson.
Recently, Kevin Johnson received a great endorsement from new Texans safety Tyrann Mathieu:
Tyrann Mathieu (@Mathieu_Era): "The guy I'm most excited about is (cornerback) Kevin Johnson (@kevjr9)..I've seen his commitment,his focus..I've played w/ guys like Patrick Peterson,guys like Tramon Williams,guys who r really good at cornerback. I think he can be 1 of those guys" pic.twitter.com/yf7vIkTBSB
— Mark Berman (@MarkBerman_) July 23, 2018
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Tyrann is one of the most respected players in the NFL and hearing him say this really makes me think that Kevin Johnson is ready to play this season and give it his all.
If Johnson does mess up in the secondary, he’s going to have some solid people behind him, unlike last year. He now has a Pro-Bowler in Honey Badger and Justin Reid, another player that I’m high on. Both will make an excellent complement to Johnson.
So, expectations are slowly rising with this Honey Badger endorsement. Johnson has a ton of talent and great work ethic, those two things are unteachable. The two things holding him back so far have been injuries and technique.
If Johnson can stay healthy and continue to work on his development, look out. He could help this secondary return to dominance in 2018. If he steps up and fills a hole at corner, it’ll make this defense incrementally better.
Next: Predicting 5 position battles for the Texans
Kevin Johnson and the rest of the Texans report to the Greenbrier in West Virginia July 26 to get their 2018 campaign rocking and rolling. The first preseason game will be against a familiar foe in the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium Aug. 9.