Tag: Kerryon Johnson

Report: Dolphins also put in waiver claim on ex-Lions RB Kerryon Johnson

The Miami Dolphins were the other NFL team to place a waiver claim on ex-Detroit Lions RB Kerryon Johnson, now with the Eagles

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Kerryon Johnson is now a member of the Philadelphia Eagles. The running back was claimed off waivers from Detroit last week by the Eagles, but they weren’t the only team who tried to pick up Johnson.

Per Field Yates of ESPN, the Miami Dolphins also placed a waiver claim on Johnson when the Lions parted ways with the fourth-year back. The Eagles had a higher waiver claim order based on the finish of the 2020 season. Philadelphia finished 4-11-1 while Miami narrowly missed the postseason with a 10-6 finish.

Interestingly, the Dolphins are led by head coach Brian Flores, who comes from the same branch of the ex-Patriots coaching tree as the recent Lions regime headed by GM Bob Quinn and coach Matt Patricia. That is the group responsible for drafting Johnson in Detroit. The oft-injured Johnson was waived by the new Lions regime shortly after the 2021 NFL draft.

NFC North news: Eagles claim former Lions RB Kerryon Johnson

Johnson find himself as the odd man out in Detroit.

The writing was on the wall for Kerryon Johnson last year after the Lions invested a second-round pick on D’Andre Swift, just two years after drafting Johnson in the same round.

The Lions placed Johnson on waivers and the Eagles have claimed him, giving them depth behind Miles Sanders.

Johnson was solid in his rookie season with Detroit, running for 641 yards (5.4 yards per carry) to go with another 213 receiving yards.

Knee injuries played a part in limited Johnson to just eight games in 2019. While Johnson was healthy enough to play all 16 games last season with Detroit, he only ran the ball 52 times.

It’s a sign that Detroit is going all in on Swift, a player who had nearly 900 yards from scrimmage as a rookie.

It seems unlikely that Adrian Peterson, who is a free agent after running for more than 600 yards last season, will return to the Lions. Peterson is looking to contribute to a Super Bowl contender.

Eagles claim ex-Lions RB Kerryon Johnson off waivers

Johnson will stay in the NFC

Kerryon Johnson didn’t have to wait long to find a new team. Shortly after being waived by the Detroit Lions, Johnson was claimed off waivers by the Philadelphia Eagles.

Johnson’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, was the first to report the news. The Eagles confirmed it with a press release.

The running back ran into a numbers game in Detroit, behind D’Andre Swift and free agent import Jamaal Williams. The Lions also drafted RB Jermar Jefferson late in the 2021 NFL draft as well as signing two promising young undrafted free agents.

Johnson, 23, ran for 1,225 yards and eight touchdowns in three seasons with the Lions. He was Detroit’s second-round pick in the 2018 NFL draft out of Auburn. Injuries have been a recurring problem for the running back.

The Eagles assume Johnson’s contract, which has one year remaining.

 

Philadelphia Eagles claim former Lions RB Kerryon Johnson off of waivers

Philadelphia Eagles claim former Lions RB Kerryon Johnson off of waivers

The Eagles just added another talented but often injured running back to the roster, claiming Kerryon Johnson off of waivers from the Detroit Lions.

Detroit drafted the former Auburn star in the second round in 2018, but he became expendable after the team drafted D’Andre Swift No. 35 overall in 2020, signed free-agent running back Jamaal Williams in March, and drafted Oregon State’s Jermar Jefferson last week.

Johnson ran for 1,225 yards and eight touchdowns over three seasons and he also has 61 career receptions for 527 yards and three touchdowns.

In 2020, Johnson had 181 yards rushing and two scores on 52 carries and had 19 receptions for 187 yards receiving and a touchdown.

His presence could mean either Jordan Howard or Boston Scott could be on the chopping block.

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4 Lions who could be pushed off the roster by new additions

Which other holdover Lions could Kerryon Johnson in being pushed off the new-look roster?

Any time there is a regime change, there figures to be ample roster turnover. Most of it tends to happen quickly in the offseason. However, the draft and undrafted free agent signings can often serve as a catalyst for more roster churn.

This actually began as “five Lions”, but one of them is already gone. The Lions dumped running back Kerryon Johnson on Wednesday after three injury-marred seasons.

Which other holdover Lions could Johnson in being pushed off the new-look roster? Here are four leading candidates to not be with the team in 2021.

Lions waive running back Kerryon Johnson

The Detroit Lions have waived running back Kerryon Johnson.

The Detroit Lions are shaking up their running back stable.

According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the Lions are waiving running back Kerryon Johnson. The former 2018 second-round pick from Auburn tallied 1,225 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on his 283 career carries in Detroit. The 23-year-old started in 16 of his 34 games played over the past three seasons with a 4.3 yards per carry.

Johnson had a down season in 2020 with just 181 yards and two touchdowns on 52 carries, a downtick from his 2019 season that saw the 5-11, 211-pound back produce 403 yards and three touchdowns on 113 carries.

The former Alabama Madison Academy product could never build upon his rookie season, where he rushed 118 times fro 641 yards and three touchdowns. In his last year with the Lions, Johnson saw his role diminish as Adrian Peterson and D’Andre Swift took the bulk of the carries.

Detroit selected a running back in the seventh round of the 2021 NFL draft in former Oregon State back Jermar Jefferson.

How every former Auburn player performed in the 2020 NFL season

A look at how every former Auburn Tigers performed in the NFL during the 2020 season.

Over the last couple seasons Auburn has started to put more and more players into the NFL and just saw two former players win the Super Bowl this weekend.

Carlton Davis and Jamel Dean were both key performers in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers run to winning Super Bowl LV, and 39 other players made contributions across the league.

Here is a look at how every former Tiger performed in the 2020 NFL season.

Duce Staley on why he chose Detroit after parting ways with the Eagles

Former Eagles assistant head coach Duce Staley was introduced to the Detroit media on Wednesday and said that he joined the Lions staff because it felt right

A familiar face will be missing in Philadelphia this season after Duce Staley took his talents and coaching acumen to Detroit and Dan Campbell’s staff with the Lions.

Staley had been on the Eagles staff since 2011 and had previously turned down overtures to join other coaching staff.

On Wednesday during his first press conference as the Lions running backs coach and assistant head coach, Staley talked about why he chose Detroit.

“Just thinking about Detroit and getting a call from coach Campbell, he was super excited on the phone. I felt the energy through the phone,” Staley said via PFT. “And then Aaron Glenn gave me a call and he says, ‘Hey man, we’re building something special here. We want you to be a part of it.’ And when I got those two phone calls, I’m telling you — being in Philadelphia for so long, each year I would get phone calls or opportunities to see what was out there, interest from other clubs. But when those two guys reached out to me, it felt good. It felt right.”

Campbell’s staff is filled with former NFL players and Staley will inherit a talented running back group that includes running backs D’Andre Swift and Kerryon Johnson.

Staley was once again a candidate for the Eagles job after Doug Pederson parted ways with the organization, but the gig went to former Colts offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni.

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How every former Tiger performed in NFL Week 14

The NFL season is in the final stretch and some former Tigers had some key performances for their teams. 

The NFL season is in the final stretch and some former Tigers had some key performances for their teams.

Kerryon Johnson scored his first touchdown since the beginning of the season and Carlton Davis had another strong performance for the Buccaneeres.

On the other hand, both Cam Newton and Jarret Stidham played for New England and neither enjoyed much success.

Here are the stats from every former Tiger in week 14.

More former College Wire players — NFL Week 14 Action:

Bama / Aub / Fla / LSU / Tenn. / UGA // Mich. / Mich St. / Ohio St. / Wisc. // Okla. / Texas // ND // USC

Lions rank near the top of the NFL in dropped passes

The running backs all own drop rates over 8.5 percent

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Dropped passes are a subjective statistic across different platforms. It’s not an official stat kept by the NFL. But in any metric or measurement, the Detroit Lions rank near the worst in the league in drops by receivers.

At NBC Sports, the Lions are second with 21 drops. Pro Football Focus has the Lions with 29. Those statistics are charitable across the board compared to Pro Football Reference, which tends to be the standard statistical book of record.

The Lions have 31 dropped passes per PFR, second only to Pittsburgh (37). The drop rate of 6.6 percent is also second-worst in the league, again to the Steelers (7.0).

The leading culprit, in terms of drop rate, is running back Adrian Peterson. He’s got three drops on 18 targets for a rate of 16.7 percent. Marvin Hall logged four drops on 30 targets, part of the reason why the Lions dumped him recently. T.J. Hockenson has the most drops with seven, though his volume of targets makes the tight end have a lesser drop rate than RBs Kerryon Johnson and D’Andre Swift and WR Quintez Cephus.

From Pro Football Reference:

Advanced Receiving Table
No. Player Age Pos G GS Tgt Rec Yds TD Drop Drop%
88 T.J. Hockenson 23 TE 13 13 88 58 657 6 7 8.0
11 Marvin Jones 30 WR 13 13 89 55 667 6 4 4.5
80 Danny Amendola 35 wr 11 3 56 37 539 0 2 3.6
32 D’Andre Swift 21 rb 10 1 44 35 301 2 4 9.1
19 Kenny Golladay 27 wr 5 5 32 20 338 2 2 6.3
33 Kerryon Johnson 23 rb 13 2 23 17 170 1 2 8.7
17 Marvin Hall 27 wr 11 5 30 17 290 2 4 13.3
87 Quintez Cephus 22 wr 10 2 27 16 253 1 3 11.1
83 Jesse James 26 te 13 7 19 12 116 2 0 0.0
39 Jamal Agnew 25 wr 11 1 19 12 76 0 1 5.3
28 Adrian Peterson 35 RB 13 10 18 12 101 0 3 16.7
12 Mohamed Sanu 31 wr 4 1 8 8 105 1 0 0.0
41 Jonathan Williams 26 5 0 4 4 21 0 0 0.0
45 Jason Cabinda 24 mlb 13 2 3 2 8 0 0 0.0
89 Isaac Nauta 23 7 0 2 1 3 0 0 0.0
Ty Johnson 23 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.0
9 Matthew Stafford 32 QB 13 13 1 0 0 0 0 0.0
Team Total 464 306 3645 23 32 6.9
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/16/2020.

For a point of comparison for Hockenson, Steelers TE Eric Ebron also has seven drops but owns a higher drop rate of 8.4 because he has fewer targets. Pittsburgh’s Diontae Johnson leads the NFL with 12 drops, followed by Buffalo’s Stefon Diggs, Giants TE Evan Engram and Seattle’s Tyler Lockett with eight apiece.