Tag: John Johnson

Rams will have to wait at least another week to get these key starters back from IR

Sean McVay doesn’t expect Steve Avila, Jonah Jackson or John Johnson III to play this week

Puka Nacua made a surprising return from injured reserve last week after only turning in one practice but no one should expect a similar situation to play out with Steve Avila, Jonah Jackson or John Johnson III this week.

All three of those key starters are currently on injured reserve and eligible to come back at any time, but none of them have even been designated to return from practice. As a result, Sean McVay doesn’t see a scenario where they play this weekend against the Seahawks.

“Not this week. I don’t expect any changes in their status,” McVay said Wednesday.

Avila has been sidelined with a knee injury since Week 1, while Jackson and Johnson both suffered shoulder injuries in Week 2 against the Cardinals. There could be a chance they return next week when the Rams host the Dolphins on Monday Night Football, but for now, they’ll remain on injured reserve.

When will Rams’ injured players come off IR? Sean McVay lays out return timelines

From Joe Noteboom to Jonah Jackson, Sean McVay shared the order in which he expects the Rams’ injured players to return

The Los Angeles Rams currently have nine players on injured reserve, seven of whom could return at some point this season. Among them are Steve Avila, Jonah Jackson, John Johnson, Puka Nacua and Joe Noteboom.

All five have been starters at some point this season and when they return, they’ll all have a chance to be inserted back into the starting lineup.

Because of injured reserve rules, players are required to miss at least four games after being placed on IR. For some players, though, their absences will last longer than just those four games.

Sean McVay hasn’t said exactly when each player will return but on the “Coach McVay Show” Monday, he laid out the order in which they’ll likely be activated.

He said Noteboom is likely to be first, then Avila, Nacua and Johnson, and then Jackson as the last player to come back.

“Joe could be earlier than those guys,” he said of Noteboom, Avila and Nacua. “Joe’s got a big workout that’s scheduled this week. We’ll see what that looks like in terms of his availability for the Raiders and then possibly for the Vikings. Really, then it’s Steve and Puka. J.J.’s in that group. And then Jonah would be after that.”

Here’s when each player is first eligible to be activated from IR.

  • OL Steve Avila (knee): Week 7
  • WR Puka Nacua (knee): Week 7
  • OL Joe Noteboom (ankle): Week 7
  • OL Jonah Jackson (shoulder): Week 8
  • S John Johnson III (shoulder): Week 8

The Rams also have Conor McDermott and KT Leveston on IR, who are both eligible to be activated at any time after missing the first four games of the season. Darious Williams has already been activated, as was Larrell Murchison, but Murchison had to be placed back on IR after breaking his foot in his first practice.

Reinforcements are undoubtedly on the way for the Rams, it’s just a matter of how soon each player will be ready.

Rams place Jonah Jackson and John Johnson III on IR, but not Cooper Kupp

The Rams placed Jonah Jackson and John Johnson III on injured reserve, but they haven’t done the same with Cooper Kupp

The Los Angeles Rams’ injured reserve list is quickly filling up and it’s only Week 3. On Wednesday, the team moved two more players onto IR: guard Jonah Jackson and safety John Johnson III.

Notably, they did not put Cooper Kupp on IR with them.

Though Sean McVay said Monday that Kupp will miss an extended period of time like Jackson and Johnson, it seems they have no plans to put their star receiver on IR.

Either they believe he’ll be back in less than four weeks or they’re worried about only having eight players they can designate to return from IR, so they’d rather keep him on the active roster instead.

Jackson suffered a shoulder injury in Week 1 that will cause him to miss at least four games, and the same goes for Johnson. They’ll be eligible to return in Week 8 because the team has a bye in Week 6.

John Johnson III out 4-6 weeks with fractured scapula

John Johnson III left Sunday’s game with a shoulder injury that will sideline him for at least 4 weeks

The Rams secondary could be missing another starter for the next several weeks. John Johnson III suffered a shoulder injury that knocked him out of Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals and he wasn’t able to return.

On Monday, it was announced by his podcast, the “No Bluffin Podcast”, that Johnson suffered a hairline fracture in his scapula and he’s expected to miss 4-6 weeks. It’s yet another crushing blow to a Rams defense that’s already missing Darious Williams on the back end.

It’s not certain that Johnson will go on injured reserve, especially with a bye coming up in Week 6, but it’s possible the Rams will put him on IR to open up a roster spot.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network confirmed the news from Johnson’s podcast, saying the safety is “headed to IR.”

Johnson has been the starting safety next to Kamren Curl, with Quentin Lake playing in the slot. Kamren Kinchens helped fill in for Johnson on Sunday, playing nine total snaps, but he’s struggled in his first two games as a rookie.

If Chris Shula doesn’t feel Kinchens is ready for a full-time role, the Rams could consider moving Lake to safety and starting either Josh Wallace or Charles Woods at cornerback – or promoting the recently signed Ahkello Witherspoon to the active roster.

Either way, the defense is worse without Johnson, who had a clutch interception against the Lions in the opener.

John Johnson III questionable to return with shoulder injury

John Johnson III is the latest Rams player to suffer an injury

It’s not just the offense that’s banged up for the Los Angeles Rams. The defense has taken some hits, too. After Cooper Kupp injured his ankle and was ruled doubtful to return, the Rams announced John Johnson III is questionable to come back against the Cardinals with a shoulder injury.

Johnson has been the Rams’ starting safety in the first two weeks alongside Kam Curl, playing an important role on defense. He was replaced by the rookie Kamren Kinchens at safety.

It’s unclear how severe Johnson’s injury is or when it occurred, but hopefully the Rams are just playing it safe with their starting defender.

Watch: The Rams pranked players by digging up embarrassing old photos of them

The Rams asked players to sign embarrassing old photos of themselves and their reactions were spectacular

Everyone has embarrassing old photos of themselves buried in albums on Facebook, including NFL players. Those photos are being dug up by social media admins in what’s become the latest trend online.

And the videos are hilarious.

The Rams jumped aboard the viral trend by surprising their players with old photos and asking them for autographs. Their reactions are predictably priceless.

“How’d y’all find this?! Did y’all go to Facebook?” an astonished Jordan Whittington asked.

Kyren Williams’ reaction to a photo of his younger self rocking sunglasses was equally good: “Man, I look good!”

Kamren Curl was not as excited to see an old mirror selfie of himself wearing an American Eagle T-shirt.

“I ain’t going to show nobody this,” he said, hiding the photo from the camera.

Kobie Turner: “Come on, that’s so bad! I’m not going to lie, the bowtie was kind of swaggy, though.”

Can confirm, Kobie.

They actually hit Whittington with two old photos, the second of which was the best of the entire video. It was a photo of him posing with a saxophone in a car, a saxophone he actually still owns.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C_1M675yFIe/?hl=en

John Johnson’s new contract with Rams is once again a bargain

John Johnson III is back with the Rams on another cheap contract that comes with less than $1M guaranteed

John Johnson III returned to the Rams last offseason as a late free-agent signing, arriving in Los Angeles in August. After a successful reunion with the team that drafted him in 2017, the two sides decided to get together again for 2024.

Johnson is back with the Rams on a one-year deal, getting a slight raise over what he made last season, which was the veteran minimum. According to Howard Balzer, Johnson’s new contract is for one year and has a value of $1.38 million with only $750,000 guaranteed.

Johnson’s deal last year was worth $1.08 million, so it’s a $300,000 pay increase for the veteran safety – still a bargain for a starting-caliber safety and someone who knows the Rams’ system very well.

It took Johnson a little while to get up to speed last season, particularly after arriving so late in the summer. He didn’t play more than four defensive snaps in a game until Week 9 when he played 16 snaps and then after that, he was essentially a full-time starter next to Jordan Fuller.

His role this season is still unclear with Kamren Curl, Quentin Lake, Russ Yeast and Kamren Kinchens all competing for snaps at safety, but it’s possible Johnson will get meaningful reps next to Curl.

Whether he starts or not, this is a reasonably cheap contract for Los Angeles at a position that could use some veteran depth.

Another free agent safety signed: John Johnson lands with Rams

Whether the Colts are going to add a safety is unknown, but the free agent options have dwindled with John Johnson re-signing with the Rams.

Whether or not the Indianapolis Colts are going to make an addition at safety remains to be seen, but the free agent options at that position dwindled on Thursday with John Johnson re-signing with the Los Angeles Rams.

If there is one position where it still makes sense for the Colts to add to it is at safety. In addition to providing additional competition for Nick Cross and Rodney Thomas for that starting free safety role, depth is a need as well with Daniel Scott out for the season with an Achilles injury.

Over Johnson’s seven-year career, he has been a fairly sound tackler and recorded 15 interceptions and 32 pass breakups. He also has a career passer rating when targeted of 87.1. The 2020 season was Johnson’s best, where he ranked sixth in PFF’s run defense grade and third in coverage grade among all safeties.

Still available in free agency at the safety position are Justin Simmons, Eddie Jackson, and Quandre Diggs, among others. To see the full list of the top remaining free agent safeties–and cornerbacks–click here.

As I already highlighted, we don’t know if the Colts are actively trying to make an addition at safety or any position for that matter. But what we do know is a need exists at safety, and the Colts have the salary cap flexibility to make a signing with nearly $26 million in available cap space.

On top of that, as any GM should be doing, Chris Ballard mentioned after the draft that they would do their due diligence and look into if there are any potential free agent fits still out there.

“Between now and the start of the season – there are still some good players out there,” Ballard said after the draft. “There’s some veterans out there that can still play. We’ll dig and investigate all of them and then make a decision if we think they are the right fit for us as we go along.”

In addition to the Rams signing Johnson, it was also reported by Adam Schefter this week that free agent safety Tashaun Gipson will serve a six-game suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing substances policy.

How does John Johnson’s return impact the Rams secondary?

John Johnson III is back with the Rams, which complicates the depth chart in LA’s secondary

The Los Angeles Rams appeared to be done adding pieces to their secondary after drafting Kamren Kinchens and signing Kamren Curl, but Les Snead and Sean McVay made another notable move on defense this week. The Rams and John Johnson III agreed to terms on a new deal, bringing back the veteran safety for the second straight year.

Johnson didn’t earn a starting role until the second half of last season but the Rams clearly liked the way he played enough to add him to the mix again at safety. His return does complicate things in a secondary that already had several questions to answer.

The only certainties right now are that Curl and Darious Williams will be starters at safety and corner, respectively. Tre’Davious White is likely to be another starting cornerback, but that’s contingent on his health as he recovers from a torn Achilles. It remains to be seen who will cover the slot in the “star” role, a position Quentin Lake played last season, because Russ Yeast and Derion Kendrick are both getting reps there.

Could Lake be moving back to a more traditional safety role next to Curl? And if so, where does that leave Kinchens on the depth chart? And now that Johnson is back, does Kinchens have any chance to start as a rookie?

Last season, Johnson played most of his snaps as a deep safety. Assuming the Rams want to play him there again, he would be a natural fit to start next to Curl, who has been more of a box and slot defender in his career. The Rams have never really deployed a true free and strong safety under McVay, seeking safeties who can play either spot, so they might see Curl and Johnson as interchangeable.

Details of Johnson’s contract haven’t been released yet so we don’t know if the Rams are paying him starter money or the veteran minimum again like last year. That won’t determine his role, but it could be an indication of the team’s plan for him.

The biggest questions on defense following this signing are with Lake and Kinchens. The return of Johnson could mean the Rams want to keep Lake as the “star” and allow Johnson to compete with Yeast and Kinchens next to Curl. It’s hard to imagine Lake falling out of favor so much after a strong 2023 season that the Rams felt the need to replace him by signing Johnson.

No matter how things shake out, the Rams now have more depth and leadership in the secondary than they did a week ago. Johnson was fine with a backup role initially last season before working his way into a starting spot, so he’s a team player through and through.

This is a smart move by Snead and McVay, one that will guard against youth and inexperience creating weaknesses at safety.

Look: John Johnson III encouraged Darious Williams to return to the Rams

John Johnson isn’t under contract with the Rams but he still helped recruit Darious Williams back to LA

John Johnson III is a pending free agent and has yet to re-sign with the Los Angeles Rams, but he’s still doing his part to recruit players to join Sean McVay’s team. After Darious Williams was released by the Jacksonville Jaguars last week, Johnson texted him encouraging the veteran cornerback to go back to Los Angeles.

Johnson didn’t share the full details of his conversation with Williams but he did at least get a “we will see” out of Darious after telling him to “go on back home.” Johnson’s persuasive words seem to have worked because Williams has agreed to a three-year deal worth up to $30 million with the Rams.

Click on Johnson’s tweet below to see their full text conversation.

There hasn’t been any movement on the free-agent front for Johnson, but Les Snead said during his press conference recently that the Rams have had dialogue with his agent and could see a role for him moving forward.