When the Houston Texans cut cornerback Kevin Johnson in the 2019 offseason, it was official: the 2015 first-rounder was a bust.
However, the Texans shouldn’t feel too bad about missing on the Wake Forest product. 25 of the 32 first-round picks from 2015 are no longer with their original draft teams, as Barry Werner from the Touchdown Wire points out.
Among the first 10 overall picks in the draft, guard Brandon Scherff is the only one to stay with his original draft team, Washington. All of the others are on different teams, except for receiver Kevin White, who is currently a free agent.
Johnson’s problem was that he couldn’t stay healthy. After a promising rookie season where he played in all 16 games, starting in 10 of them, the 6-0, 185-pound cornerback never played another full slate his entire Texans tenure. In 2016, Johnson logged six games, 12 in 2017, and then played Opening Day in 2018 before being put on injured reserve with concussion issues.
Johnson bounced back with the Buffalo Bills in 2019 with 16 games and a start under his belt. However, the AFC East club moved on from the former Texans first-rounder, and now Johnson is on his third team, the Cleveland Browns.
The player the Texans could have taken at cornerback instead of Johnson was Marcus Peters from Washington. Two picks after Houston selected Johnson, the Kansas City Chiefs grabbed Peters. However, Kansas City ended up trading Peters after the 2017 season to the Los Angeles Rams. Midway through the 2019 campaign, the Rams traded Peters to the Baltimore Ravens, his third team since 2015, same as Johnson.
Whatever the case, the Texans may have been destined to take a player that wasn’t meant to be with the club on a second contract. Nonetheless, the Texans have to find better players in the upcoming 2020 NFL Draft, though cornerback may not be necessary given their depth at that position.
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