SB Nation - Mike Johnson

Game Film Breakdown: Julio Jones

outsidethesidelines — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:00:47 -0000

Through the first five games of the 2009 season, Julio Jones has amassed only 9 catches for 133 yards and one touchdown. After establishing himself as an absolute phenom as a true freshman, the lack of production to date has left many befuddled and asking themselves exactly what is wrong with Julio Jones? And, of course, those concerns were only magnified this past weekend when, against Kentucky, Jones had only two catches for 13 yards.

Personally, going into the Kentucky game, I paid little attention to Julio's lack of production to date. After all, we had played only four games in the season, and Julio practically missed two entire games with a bruised knee, plus Virginia Tech's Bud Foster effectively approached the Alabama game with the intent that hell would freeze over before he would let Julio Jones beat his Hokies. In other words, the lack of overall production to date was really just more of a result of a small sample size mixed with a little bad injury luck, neither of which would constitute a major concern moving forward. But with the two catch, 13-yard performance against Kentucky, the critical fires were only further fanned, and after that I decided that closer scrutiny was warranted.

So, exactly what is going on with Julio Jones? There is really only one way to answer that question, and that is to simply put on the game film and take a closer look, and that is what I have decided to do here. All told, we targeted Julio Jones seven times against Kentucky, and all seven passes to him are included in the following 2:15 YouTube clip that flaco posted.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I will say from the outset that what I expected to find before looking at the film was that, against Kentucky, we would see a Julio Jones who was probably hampered by injuries -- in particular the sports hernia that he had surgery on in late April, and the bruised knee -- that was largely shut down thanks to the play of star Kentucky cornerback Trevard Lindley, and the collective efforts of the rest of the Kentucky secondary, largely by bracketing the wideout. With that expectation in mind, let's look at the film:

Much to my surprise, however, I actually found the opposite of what I expected to find. Kentucky did not really try to take Julio out of the game, per se. In fact, they effectively took the anti-Foster approach by practically begging us to throw the football in Julio's direction. Not a single time did he draw double coverage, nor did Kentucky actually bracket him with two defenders. At most, Kentucky would roll a safety in his direction on deep routes, and that was about it. Furthermore, on the seven passes thrown towards Julio, Lindley was only covering him on two those passes, and actually Kentucky matched up a safety in man coverage on him twice. And much to the contrary with regard to my expectation for a banged up Julio, truth be told Julio looked very good on film. He faced a lot of single coverage against Kentucky, and perhaps not too surprisingly, he was practically open all day long. Kentucky really just could not cover him, plain and simple. Again, after watching the film, I basically found the exact opposite of what I expected to find.

Julio Jones' lack of production on Saturday really had almost nothing to do with his own shortcomings. In actuality, the real reason for the lack of production was largely the inability of Greg McElroy to get the football to him when he was open. Let's take a closer look at all seven balls thrown in his direction to get a better understanding

Target #1: The first pass to Julio comes on the first play from scrimmage in the game. On 1st and 10, the 4-3 based Wildcats comes with a standard four-man rush, and drops all three linebackers into a loose zone behind the pass rush. The first read for McElroy is looking deep for Marquis Maze on a go route, but against a Cover Four shell nothing is open downfield. Julio Jones, on the other hand, is the second option in this play. He runs a short crossing route, and once he identifies the three-man zone by the linebackers, he does what he is supposed to do and finds the hole in the zone, and waits on his quarterback to throw him the football. And, actually, Jones does a fine job in this regard, and he is wide open, as you can tell by the following picture:

Unfortunately, McElroy doesn't get the ball out on time here. He checks down quickly, as he should, and he goes to throw the football to the open Jones, but for some reason he pump fakes instead. This pump fake causes Julio to move around trying to create a better throw for his quarterback, and it causes Kentucky safety Winston Guy to come up to play the short pass. The pump fake throws the entire play off, and the ball gets thrown at a bit of an odd angle, which ultimately Julio cannot bring in against tight coverage. This is not a sexy play regardless, and one that even if completed properly only gets four or five yards, but again this should be a completion. Inexplicably, however, McElroy doesn't get the ball out on time, and it results in an incomplete pass.

Target #2: On the following drive, Alabama is driving yet again, and here Julio Jones is in fact isolated in man coverage against Trevard Lindley. A safety does eventually roll in Julio's direction late, but he has no real impact on this play. Julio gets off the line very well against Lindley, and he is open streaking down the sideline on the go route. He has a step on Lindley, and with a good throw this is a touchdown. Unfortunately, the ball is underthrown and tails back towards the sideline in its flight, and Julio has to try to re-adjust his route, thus losing all separation. Even so, though, the ball is effectively uncatchable and falls to the ground incomplete.

Note: Notice on this play that the ball should not go to Julio Jones. Look to the left of the formation for Mark Ingram slipping out of the backfield. There is barely anyone on that side of the field, and if we get the football to him out in the flats, he has a huge play, and may very well even score. He's wide open with hardly a defender in sight.

Target #3: Later in the first quarter, we're trying to get the passing game going, so we call an easy pass here. Julio lines up in the slot to the left with safety Taideo Smith -- admittedly a bit of a small, coverage-oriented type safety who is really more physically built line a corner -- and on the snap he runs a quick flare out into the flats before cutting back inside to catch the wide receiver screen. Greg McElroy and Julio Jones do a good job on the simple pitch and catch, and Julio looks for daylight behind his linemen that broke free (in particular Mike Johnson). It's a solid play that has some promise, but unfortunately Julio runs smack into the massive stud linebacker Micah Johnson. And as usually happens what someone runs across Mr. Johnson, forward progress stops immediately. Four yard gain.

Target #4: Two plays later, Alabama is facing a 3rd and 6. Jones once again lines up to the left of the formation against (I think) the aforementioned Smith. It's man coverage, and quickly identifying that, McElroy immediately targets Jones, who runs about a 9-yard out route that will clearly get the Tide the first down. All is going well and looking good for the completion, but Julio slips coming out of his break and the ball sails by for an incomplete pass. It's a good throw by McElroy, but poor footing costs Jones the catch and 'Bama the first down.

Target #5: This one is simply a huge play where Julio comes up big with a key catch against tight coverage from Trevard Lindley. This is a 3rd and 3 with approximately 4:00 remaining in the second quarter, with the Tide clinging to a 7-6 lead. A punt here means that you have to get a defensive stop just to retain the lead going into halftime, so converting here is of the utmost importance. We run a quick slant here to Julio, and he does exactly what we need him to do. He fights hard and gets inside position on the All-American. Notice in the following picture how Julio places his 6'4 frame between the football and the cornerback:

This is a pure trust throw here by McElroy, and a pure trust play call by McElwain. Simply put, on a quick slant the ball has to be thrown before the receiver establishes inside position, so a quarterback and a play caller need full and complete confidence that the receiver in question will run the route perfectly, and in particular calling this play in such a critical situation against such a high quality defender is a risky call. Fortunately, Jones plants the left foot in the ground, gets inside position, and then goes out strong with his hands to get the football. Julio ultimately grinds out nine yards, and with a new set of downs, a few plays later the Tide scores a touchdown.

Note: Also notice here tight end Michael Williams running a nice route out into the right flat that, too, would have likely yielded a first down had the football been thrown in his direction. I mentioned this on Twitter earlier, but I'll reiterate here that Williams is really starting to get a lot of meaningful playing time.

Target #6: This pass comes late in the third quarter on a 2nd and goal play with the Tide holding a 31-13 lead over Kentucky, and it could have been an absolute, unmitigated disaster. Julio Jones is split out wide to the left, and runs the quick slant. Kentucky outside linebacker Sam Maxwell lines up in a two-point stance right at the line of scrimmage, and he drops back into pass coverage, reading the quarterback's eyes the entire way. McElroy has absolutely no idea whatsoever that Maxwell is reading him like a book, and he in turn throws the slant to Julio. Now, Julio beats his man on this route because he establishes inside position on Kentucky cornerback Randall Burden, but when the ball is in the air Maxwell pounces and reaches up to grab the interception. Fortunately for the Tide Maxwell drops the almost certain interception, and thankfully so because this is the exact kind of throw that can quickly turn into a pick-six going in the opposite direction. At the very least, this should be an interception that results in a long return by the defense, but fortunately the pass falls harmlessly to the ground. One way or the other, though, you cannot blame Jones here because it is a terrible decision by McElroy to throw the football in his direction and the ball never actually gets to him (and even so he ran the route properly).

Target #7: The final pass towards Julio Jones comes on a 3rd and 7 midway through the fourth quarter. Julio has man coverage to the left of the formation against Randall Burden, and just like he did earlier in the game against Trevard Lindley, Jones beats the Kentucky cornerback off the line and has a step on him as they both race down the sideline. See the following photo, for visual confirmation:

As you can see in that photo, Julio has separation between himself and the Kentucky defender, and keep in mind that photo is taken right after Julio starts to slow down to re-adjust to the ball that was, just like the earlier go route against Lindley, underthrown by Greg McElroy. Unfortunately, the underthrown ball means that Burden catches back up to force an incompletion, and it is also allows the Kentucky safety the time to get over and lay a cheapshot on the defenseless Jones. A likely touchdown turns into a painful incompletion because of yet another underthrown ball.

So, again, what did we see here? We saw Julio really wasn't the problem at all. Five incomplete passes were thrown in his direction, only one of which was his fault, and the other four completions were simply poor throws by Greg McElroy. Simply put, Julio found himself open all day long. He beat both Lindley and Burden deep on go routes, and picked apart the Kentucky zone on the opening play. His biggest "fault" of the day, if you can even call it that, was that he slipped coming out of his break on the incomplete out route, and that simple mistake is hardly damning regardless of the circumstances. If McElroy can get the ball to Julio effectively, he has five catches for 100+ yards and a couple of touchdowns, and we're all sitting here talking about how Julio is back and what an unstoppable, once-in-a-generation physical specimen he is.

And with that said, keep in mind that none of this should come across as bashing Greg McElroy either. Again, consider that we are discussing a very small sample size here, and while he did struggle to get the football to Julio Jones on Saturday, he nevertheless did a fine job of getting it to everyone else. On the 19 passes where Julio Jones was not targeted, McElroy went 13-19 for 135 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions (i.e. he completed over 68% of those passes for a QB rating of 162.8), and he did all of that against one of the SEC's best pass defenses. He made some mistakes, to be sure, but all that proves is that McElroy is capable of error, which any rational observer ought to know anyway, and at any rate he's still playing the position better to date than any Alabama quarterback has since Jay Barker in 1994. Moreover, no one could legitimately claim that McElroy didn't try to get the football to Julio enough, as more than one-quarter of our passing attempts went in the direction of Mr. Jones (no small amount, especially when considering how deep we are with quality receivers).

That said, all in all, when watching the game film of Julio Jones, all I could think of is was, "What sophomore slump?" The production might not be there just yet for a variety of reasons, but after watching Julio on film I really see nothing wrong with him. It should go without saying that anything can happen moving forward, and for whatever reason the production could continue to lag, but objectively after viewing the Kentucky game film, Julio looks to me to be as impressive as ever, and a player who could very well have a huge game at any given time. Let's all hope it happens this Saturday when we hit the road to take on Colonel Reb.

PFW News And Notes On Houston Texans Draft Prospects

Jake — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 02:48:41 -0000

Pro Football Weekly is one of the premier NFL sites on the web, especially when it comes to the Draft. Earlier in the draft speculation season, I made a habit of regularly checking their site because they go beyond the usual simple ratings and mocks that most draft sites publish and write thought-provoking draft articles. Also, PFW writers seem to have close relationships with NFL personnel, which give realistic insight into what franchises think about particular players, rather than the usual Draft analysts that get constant coverage this time of year.

Unfortunately, I work in an organization that feels that PFW will lead to a lack of productivity on my part. Weird huh? Due to this restriction, I had an involuntary hiatus from PFW and therefore hadn’t seen several articles published in the last few weeks. There have been several pieces published since my last perusal of the site that are not only informative, but are telling about some of the prospects that the Houston Texans might be considering adding to their roster.

In an article published on April 9th, Nolan Nawrocki detailed five prospects that might too risky for a team to draft. Among the five listed, Vontae Davis:

4) CB Vontae Davis, Illinois (Jr.)
Outside of being demoted several times throughout his career, in the spring and in the fall, Davis may not seem like he has a lot of issues on the surface — with no noted arrests or incidents that scream “problem.” However, his team interviews have been received very poorly, raising questions about his mental instability, lack of maturity and intelligence issues that clearly show up on tape consistently. He was regularly in the coaches’ doghouse, is very difficult to manage, does not respond well to coaching and may never easily blend into a locker room, as he beats to his own drum.

I’d like to think that Davis isn’t on the Texans’ radar for this particular reason, but we don’t know for sure because supposedly the Texans are good at keeping scouting trips and prospect visits quiet. Hopefully Gary Kubiak ignores Davis’ amazing physical talent and keeps his drafting-with-character trend going.

On April 13th, Nawrocki again writes an interesting article detailing the merits of character and those prospects that NFL scouts have earmarked as having it in spades. Who’s number one on that list?

1) CB-FS Malcolm Jenkins, Ohio State
At a position known for producing many prima donnas craving attention, Jenkins stands out for his maturity and humble attitude. Evaluators call him one of the cleanest elite cornerbacks to come out of the draft in the last decade and praise his smarts, intangibles and emotional leadership ability. They point to Jenkins having rallied the Buckeyes when they would fall behind and having provided the spark needed in the huddle, which his why some teams believe his makeup is most ideally suited for the safety position. He straddles the line of appearing arrogant on the field, but evaluators say he is far from it and have been impressed with his confidence, overall character and the way he has carried himself in team interviews. He was described as the type of person who will contend for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year award and PFW’s Arthur Arkush Humanitarian Award in due time.

I’ll save you the long-winded diatribe; I love Malcolm Jenkins.

Two days later, Nawrocki stayed busy by writing an article about various draft prospects that were either rising or falling in on NFL draft boards. None of the risers were significant for the Texans, but a couple of the fallers were. First off, Everette Brown.

DE Everette Brown, Florida State (Jr.)
With nearly half of the league moving to at least some variation of a 3-4 front, Brown’s value has begun to diminish, as he was not asked to drop much in college and showed too much stiffness in reverse at his pro-day workout to project as a rush linebacker. With limited strength to stop the run, he fits best as an up-the-field, fly-at-the-snap, open-side edge rusher for a one-gap, attacking 4-3 defense. The “one-dimensional” label some evaluators have affixed to him has pushed him down as far as the fourth round for some teams. He could still easily be drafted in the first, considering the premium placed on being able to the passer, but he may fall to the second.

I haven’t even thought of Brown as possibility at 15 because I assumed that there was virtually no chance he would be there. Even though according to this he might be, I’m still not excited about the notion of seeing Brown in Steel Blue next year. We have other needs that we need to attend to, and if Smithiak did decide to take a DE, I would hope they would take Ayers over Brown. One under-performing D-lineman is enough for me.

Brown wasn’t the only faller of significance though:

CB Sean Smith, Utah
Quickly, name a cornerback in the NFL who has been successful and who stood taller than 6-foot-3? Some may have been able to get away with it in a different era, but in the modern age where cornerbacks are often forced to match up with the elite quickness of a Steve Smith, Wes Welker or Greg Jennings, leggy cornerbacks do not possess enough transitional quickness to be effective. Questions about Smith’s maturity have also concerned teams. A number of teams have already eliminated Smith from consideration because he does not fit their schemes, with limited ability in man-off coverage. Many others have him positioned in the fourth round, with an expectation of him potentially competing for a backup job.

Ouch...that is not flattering. I think that the analysis lacks the possibility that Smith might be drafted specifically to play FS, but this is supposedly derived from the word of NFL scouts. I recently watched the 2008 Sugar Bowl specifically to see how Smith performed, and I wasn’t impressed. He covered well, but his physicality is lacking in my opinion. I may be being too hard on him because of my love for Jenkins and mine and Matt's well-publicized debate over which prospect is better, but I just can’t get around my lack of confidence in Smith’s ferocity as a defender. On the flip side though, if he was there in the second round and we didn’t get Jenkins in the first, I wouldn’t be too averse to taking him because he is dangerous when he gets the ball in his hands.

Does anyone besides Nawrocki write for PFW? Later on the 15th, he published another piece that was a collection of random player descriptions by NFL player evaluation personnel. There were a couple I felt were applicable to Houston.

“(Georgia Tech DE) Michael Johnson is almost nonexistent against the run. He was never a full-time player until his senior year. He’d be a rotational, third-down, situational pass rusher for us. You can’t consider taking guys like that until the third round; we couldn’t, anyway. Someone will take him sooner.”

There are a lot of rumors swirling around the league that Johnson won’t make it out of the first round. If so, that team can have him because there is no way I’d draft him at 15. If for some reason he made it to 46, his physical talent might be too tempting to pass on.

“(Cowboys OLB) DeMarcus Ware is a fluid athlete who can bend to leverage the corner. Brian Orakpo is tight and not as natural of a pass-rush guy. Neither are great zone-dropping, but you don’t need to be as a 3-4 rush ’backer. The primary job is playing with your hand in the ground, and that’s what Orakpo does best. He’s got that explosive first step. And he is much stronger than Ware, not that Ware cannot play strong — he knows how to use his hands.”

I put this in here only to piss beefy off.

“If you watched (USC LB Brian) Cushing at his pro day, he opened up the wrong way twice in drills. He did the same thing once at the Combine. He’s a meathead. Rey Maualuga is going to need some reps, too. It won’t be instant for him. The safest linebacker of that group is Clay Matthews.”

This seems to be a reoccurring trend. Matthews is scary for the same reason he’s exciting; his huge upside. I personally like him and I know several other Texans fans that do, but we could be proven wrong in a couple years. I definitely want no part of Cushing, that’s for sure.

“You can give a monkey a banana and a beer and throw on some highlights and could get better evaluations than some teams make. I sit in amazement every year on Draft Day at some of the decisions that are made. It floors me. But that’s the beauty of our business. We can watch the same tape together — you can have an opinion, and I can see it completely differently — and in three years, one of us will be right.”

Raiders, Redskins, Jaguars and Lions… they’re talking about you.

On April 16th, Nawrocki continued both his theme of PFW writing monopolization as well as player underrated/overratedness. On the overrated side:

FS William Moore, Missouri
Moore looks every bit the part and possesses the physical tools to start in the NFL a long time, but he could always be hindered by mental mistakes and a lack of discipline and be too easily manipulated by the eyes of experienced NFL quarterbacks. He needs to prove he can stay healthy after an injury-plagued senior season.

I’ve said before that I’m excited about Moore, but this is a common criticism of him. His production from his junior your entices me, but several people have stated that he’s not intelligent enough to be a defensive signal caller, which is something that most NFL teams require of their safeties. That coupled with his extensive injury history is pretty damning.

On that underrated side:

DE-OLB Clint Sintim, Virginia
Sintim will not fit for every team, and some evaluators think he may have to play defensive end in a 4-3 front. Questions have arisen about his football intelligence, and he would be best in a defense where he could be schemed to turn it loose and rush the passer. Doing just that, he led the nation in sacks from the LB position a year ago despite having dropped into coverage frequently. However, he could handle playing strong-side linebacker over the tight end in a 4-3 front, and having played the rush LB position in college, he gives evaluators whose teams play 3-4 fronts more comfort because they know exactly what they are getting.

The OLB prospects receiving the most publicity right now are ones that played DE collegiately but will most likely play OLB in a 3-4 scheme in the NFL. Sintim played OLB in a 3-4 in school, but is now being talked about as a 4-3 DE--ironic. I personally think that line of thinking is a mistake. I’d love to have Sintim at SLB, but only if he was taken with our second round selection, not our first.

My hat goes off to Nolan Nawrocki for his excellent work. I never stopped to look at exactly who was writing the articles for PFW before today, mostly because I never wrote for a blog before this year and therefore didn’t care who wrote that post. He seems to have a very good grasp of what NFL personnel think about different draft prospects, which will definitely give us food for though. In the end, we’ll just have to wait eight more days and find out. Man, it feels good to be single digit days away from the Draft.

And with the #42 Pick in the Arrowhead Pride Community Mock Draft, the Buffalo Bills Select...

Chris Thorman — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:00:13 -0000

Georgia Tech DE Michael Johnson

ArrowDread with the pick...

The Bills get their pass-rushing DE, but not without a few red flags. Johnson is physical freak- 6 foot 7 with speed and all the potential to be a stud in the NFL. He still needs to get bigger and stronger, he is a little lanky for his size but he is easily a 1st round talent. The question marks come from his tendency to take plays even games off. One scout said he needs to be more consistent with his effort. For most teams this would be a major no-no, but with the right coaching and motivation, this guy could be a huge difference maker. With Buffalo being short on defensive play-makers, they take a shot on Johnson with a high-risk- high reward type of pick.

Buffalo still needs an OG, but with Micheal Johnson's upside and potential, Bills go DE here.

Round 1 is here.

Previous pick: DT Ron Brace

Read more:Scouting Report (Mocking the Draft)

On the clock for tomorrow: San Francisco 49ers (Harry Feltersnatch) and Miami Dolphins (shraggyj)

Click over for the schedule and current draft results.

Pick	Round 2	Selection	Date	Approval Rating
1(33)	Detroit Lions - UCrawford	CB Darius Butler	Weds., April 8th
2(34)	New England Patriots (From Kansas City) - connerman	DE Robert Ayers	Weds., April 8th
3(35)	St. Louis Rams - Lanier63	DT Evander Hood	Thursday, April 9th
4(36)	Cleveland Browns - HIV2Elway	DE Connor Barwin	Thursday, April 9th
5(37)	Seattle Seahawks - mikvogel	OT William Beatty	Friday, April 10th
6(38)	Cincinnati Bengals - mistamic	C Max Unger	Friday, April 10th
7(39)	Jacksonville Jaguars - DThomasReigns	G Duke Robinson	Monday, April 13th
8(40)	Oakland Raiders - mushin	T Phil Loadholt	Monday, April 13th
9(41)	Green Bay Packers - JasonM	DT Ron Brace	Tuesday, April 14th
10(42)	Buffalo Bills - ArrowDread	DE Michael Johnson	Tuesday, April 14th
11(43)	San Francisco 49ers - Harry Feltersnatch		Weds. April 15th
12(44)	Miami Dolphins (From Washington) - shraggyj		Weds. April 15th
13(45)	New York Giants (From New Orleans) - ChiefsFan90s		Thursday, April 16th
14(46)	Houston Texans - ChiefsDude		Thursday, April 16th
15(47)	New England Patriots (From San Diego) - connerman		Friday, April 17th
16(48)	Denver Broncos (From Texans) - Keyser Sose		Friday, April 17th
17(49)	Chicago Bears - Holmeslice		Monday, April 20th
18(50)	Cleveland Browns (From Tampa Bay) - HIV2Elway		Monday, April 20th
19(51)	Dallas Cowboys - chiefsfan1384		Monday, April 20th
20(52)	New York Jets - ???		Tuesday, April 21st
21(53)	Philadelphia Eagles - Chiefsfan717		Tuesday, April 21st
22(54)	Minnesota Vikings - kcsno56		Tuesday, April 21st
23(55)	Atlanta Falcons - RedNose		Weds. April 22nd
24(56)	Miami Dolphins - shraggyj		Weds. April 22nd
25(57)	Baltimore Ravens - Ben S		Weds. April 22nd
26(58)	New England Patriots - connerman		Thursday, April 23rd
27(59)	Carolina Panthers - 808NaNz808		Thursday, April 23rd
28(60)	New York Giants - ChiefsFan90s		Thursday, April 23rd
29(61)	Indianapolis Colts - craig in calgary		Friday, April 24th
30(62)	Tennessee Titans - Lvl.99		Friday, April 24th
31(63)	Arizona Cardinals - THE_TRUTH		Friday, April 24th
32(64)	Pittsburgh Steelers - McWhirt33		Friday, April 24th

Poll

Do you agree with the pick?

Yes

51 votes

No

15 votes

Indifferent

16 votes

82 votes | Poll has closed

SB Nation Writers Mock Draft: Round 2, Pick #40

Mocking Dan — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:00:11 -0000

No. 40

OAKLAND
RAIDERS
Pick by Silver and Black Pride

Michael Johnson
Defensive end
Georgia Tech

The second round continues with the Raiders and Silver and Black Pride blogger TheRaiderWay up again. The team took Michael Crabtree in round one.

I love drafting for the Raiders in these "mock drafts", because every year I am able to get exactly who I target.

In 2007, it was JaMarcus Russell and Zach Miller. In 2008, it was Darren McFadden and this year it is Crabtree and Michael Johnson.

In Johnson, the Raiders would get a DE/OLB who is 6-foot-7 and runs a 4.69 40. He is quick enough to drop back in a masked coverage and is strong enough to rush inside or utilize his speed around the left end.

In today’s NFL, with all of the timing offenses and quick reads, it is very important to mask coverages and Johnson is the prototypical quarterback nightmare. With the pending departure of Derek Burgess, it is very important that we fill his role in this draft. In fact, I would not be surprised to see Burgess dealt for a pick, if the Raiders follow suit and draft Johnson.

MTD thoughts: You could argue that no team in this mock has had more a dynamic draft than Oakland. Johnson would not only fit a major the Raiders, but he's clearly an Al Davis kind of pick.

Mocking the Draft's Top Five Remaining Prospects - OT Phil Loadholt, TE Brandon Pettigrew, QB Josh Freeman, CB Alphonso Smith, RB Shonn Greene