John Johnson III: 3 things to know about the new Browns safety

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Browns gave defensive coordinator Joe Woods some help on Monday by agreeing to terms with former Rams safety John Johnson on a three-year deal.

The move gives the Browns a talent boost at the back of the defense, where the team struggled to find solid footing last season. While Ronnie Harrison finished the season with the Browns’ second-highest grade from Pro Football Focus (76.6), the team’s most frequent safety tandem – Andrew Sendejo and Karl Joseph – each graded below 55.0, which is replaceable territory.

What are the Browns getting on Johnson? Here are a few things to know:

1. GOOD GRADES

Although he’s never been selected for a Pro Bowl in his four NFL seasons, Johnson’s PFF grades put him right on the cusp of Pro Bowl level.

Throw out 2019, when a shoulder injury limited him to six games, and Johnson’s defensive grade has landed in the top 10 among safeties every season. His lowest grade was 81.5 as a rookie. His best grade was 85.3 last season.

PFF considers those grading 70-84 starter level, and those 85-89 Pro Bowl level. Anything higher than that – like Wyatt Teller as a run blocker – is considered elite.

Better news for the Browns is Johnson’s coverage grades, which have improved each season. Again, skip over 2019 and he has graded 82.9, 86.4 and 86.6 in coverage, keeping quarterback passer rating against him at 96.1 for his career.

And he has been targeted plenty. Last season his 67 targets tied for third among safeties. But he allowed an average of just 7.0 yards per catch with three touchdowns and one interception while breaking up seven passes.

2. TIGHT END COVERAGE

The Browns have had their issues with tight ends in recent years, and last season was no different. They gave up 90 catches (ranked fourth) for 907 yards (ranked eighth) and 10 touchdowns (tied for fourth).

Johnson should help with that.

For his career he has been targeted 65 times vs. tight ends, giving up 34 catches (52 percent catch rate) for seven touchdowns with seven interceptions and 16 passes broken up.

In 2018 he led all safeties with 27 targets against tight ends, giving up 15 catches for 164 yards and two touchdowns, but also had four picks, dropped a potential fifth and broke up six passes.

Last season Johnson was targeted 15 times, seventh most among safeties. He allowed just seven catches for 33 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also broke up five passes.

For comparison, the Browns’ top four safeties last season – Sendejo, Joseph, Harrison and Sheldrick Redwine – gave up 31 catches on 38 targets to tight ends (81.5 percent catch rate), with six touchdowns, two interceptions and five passes defensed.

Even Harrison, the Browns’ best cover safety last season, gave up seven catches on 10 targets for 110 yards and a touchdown.

3. SOLID AGAINST THE RUN

Johnson was the only safety in the NFL last season to earn PFF grades above 80 in four key categories: overall defense, coverage, run defense and tackling.

Those last two categories make him the kind of complete safety every team wants.

Against the run last season, Johnson was ranked fourth in among safeties in PFF grade (83.9) and hasn’t graded below 72.0 in his three full seasons. While Sendejo was missing 15 tackles last season (ranked seventh among safeties), Johnson missed only seven and made 79 (ranked 14th).

Johnson missed a tackle last season only once every 15.9 attempts, which was 10th among safeties. Harrison led the Browns in tackling efficiency last season at 10.0, ranked 36th. Johnson has been above 10.0 in this stat in each of his three full seasons.

Finally, Johnson has been in the top 10 among safeties in defensive stops (tackle that constitutes a failure for the offense) in two of the last three seasons, including eighth last season with 29.

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