Tag: Lonnie Johnson

Lonnie Johnson Jr. says goodbye to Saints fans in returning to Houston

Lonnie Johnson Jr. says goodbye to New Orleans Saints fans and teammates in returning to the Houston Texans:

This is a surprise loss: Lonnie Johnson Jr. said his goodbyes to New Orleans Saints fans and his teammates on social media Monday, at the start of the NFL legal tampering window. Johnson is going back to the team that drafted him in a deal with the Houston Texans.

Johnson was well-regarded by the Saints coaching staff, who played him last year as the primary backup to Marcus Maye. When New Orleans chose to let the veteran free safety go, Johnson appeared to be a natural choice to compete with second-year pro Jordan Howden as Maye’s replacement. Johnson was limited by a lingering hamstring injury last season but played well when healthy.

Good luck to him. Johnson pointed to the success his old Texans teammates Jordan Akins and Desmond King found in reunions with Houston as reasons for his own return. He’s eager to carve out a niche in DeMeco Ryans’ defense and prove himself. We’ll see how the Saints react.

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6 options for the Saints to replace Marcus Maye at safety

The Saints will be replacing Marcus Maye at safety, but who are their choices? Between in-house options, draft prospects, and free agents, here are six candidates:

Here’s another challenge for the New Orleans Saints offense: replacing Marcus Maye at safety. It’s been reported that the Saints will release Maye at the start of the new league year on March 13, buying them time to make decisions on other players before filing his release with the league office.

Even if Maye’s availability was a concern (he missed a full 17-game season’s worth of time with injuries and a suspension through two years), the Saints still need to account for his loss in the secondary. Between in-house options, draft prospects, and free agents, here are six candidates to watch:

No surprises on New Orleans Saints inactive list for Week 17 vs. Bucs

There are no surprises on New Orleans Saints inactive list for Week 17’s game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

There are no surprises on New Orleans Saints inactive list for Week 17’s game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers: rookie draft picks Isaiah Foskey and Kendre Miller are unavailable due to injury, and backup quarterback Jake Haener is a healthy scratch again.

Right tackle Ryan Ramczyk, who was ruled out with an injury, has been put on injured reserve which will likely end his season (barring a big Saints playoff push). Veteran safety Lonnie Johnson Jr. was also ruled out due to injury. Running back Alvin Kamara and punter Lou Hedley, both questionable with illness, are officially active.

Here’s the full list of Saints inactives for Week 17:

  • DB Lonnie Johnson (injury)
  • RB Kendre Miller (injury)
  • DE Isaiah Foskey (injury)
  • QB Jake Haener
  • CB Cameron Dantzler
  • LB Monty Rice

And here’s the list of inactive Buccaneers:

  • CB Carlton Davis (injury)
  • OLB Shaq Barrett (injury)
  • TE Ko Kieft (injury)
  • LB J.J. Russell
  • DL Deadrin Senat
  • OL Brandon Walton
  • QB John Wolford (designated as QB3)

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Rookie safety Jordan Howden (illness) misses practice on first Saints-Bucs injury report

Rookie safety Jordan Howden missed practice with an illness on Wednesday. More from the first Saints-Bucs injury report:

Three players did not practice on Wednesday, per the first New Orleans Saints injury report ahead of Week 17’s pivotal game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The most important absence was right tackle Ryan Ramczyk (knee), who has missed some time dealing with a recurring knee injury. But he’s not the only player not at practice.

Two safeties were unavailable Wednesday — rookie standout Jordan Howden (illness) and veteran backup Lonnie Johnson Jr. (knee). Johnson is expected to miss more time recovering from a recent injury but Howden could return later this week while dealing with an undisclosed illness. It’s worth monitoring their progress closely with Marcus Maye still on injured reserve.

Here’s the initial injury report from both teams to start the week:

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Kendre Miller is a surprise add to the Saints inactive list against the Rams

Kendre Miller is a surprise add to the Saints inactive list against the Rams. Fans will have to wait another week to see the rookie running back again:

This is tough. Kendre Miller is a surprise add to the New Orleans Saints inactive list going into Thursday night’s game with the Los Angeles Rams; he had missed the last five games recovering from an ankle injury, but practiced this week, and his coaches made it sound like he had a good chance to play in prime time. NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill first broke the bad news.

Instead, fans will have to wait another week to see the rookie running back again. It’s been a very disappointing season for Miller after he missed most of the offseason program recovering from a college knee injury while talking himself up as someone who could do everything Alvin Kamara can do. Hopefully he can make good on that promise after returning to full health.

Here is the full inactive list from both teams:

Saints inactive players

  • DE Isaiah Foskey (injury)
  • S Lonnie Johnson (injury)
  • RT Ryan Ramczyk (injury)
  • RB Kendre Miller (injury)
  • QB Jake Haener
  • DB Cameron Dantzler Sr.
  • LB Monty Rice

Rams inactive players

  • DB Tre Tomlinson (injury)
  • RB Zach Evans
  • OLB Ochaun Mathis
  • OL Warren McClendon Jr.
  • DE Desjuan Johnson.

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Former Titans DB Lonnie Johnson set for visit with Seahawks

Former Titans DB Lonnie Johnson is visiting the Seahawks.

Tennessee Titans free-agent defensive back Lonnie Johnson is exploring the market, with the veteran set to make a stop in Seattle to visit the Seahawks.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Johnson and the Seahawks are having a free-agent meeting on Thursday. This is the first known interest Johnson has received since officially becoming a free agent on Wednesday.

Johnson was originally acquired in 2022 via waivers from the Kansas City Chiefs. He appeared in 12 games for Tennessee, whose secondary was riddled with injuries. He didn’t make a start, though, and had 11 tackles.

In an article predicting the fates of Tennessee’s defensive free agents, we pegged Johnson as someone the Titans would bring back, but that was a guess more than anything else. Johnson is very much a “meh” player.

To keep up with all of the latest Titans free-agent news, including signings, trades, cuts and rumors, follow along with our tracker, which is updated regularly.

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Titans almost out of IR returns after designating Lonnie Johnson

The Titans have used seven of eight return designations this season.

Every team in the NFL is allowed to designate up to eight players to return from injured reserve during the course of the season, a limit the Tennessee Titans are unsurprisingly approaching.

On Thursday, the Titans designated defensive back Lonnie Johnson to return from injured reserve, the second player to receive that designation this week after linebacker Zach Cunningham.

That brings the Titans up to seven, which means only one more player currently on injured reserve can return.

As far as players who are on injured reserve and were thought to have a chance to return, the biggest names are cornerback Elijah Molden, wide receiver Kyle Philips and linebacker David Long.

However, we found out via defensive coordinator Shane Bowen that Molden is done for 2022.

Assuming both players are eventually healthy enough to be designated to return, the choice has to be Long, who is eligible to return in Week 18.

Granted, the Titans can use all the help they can get at wide receiver, but Long’s impact on defense will be far greater than Philips’ on offense.

As the Titans approach the limit, it’s hard not to point out how the Titans used a return on former outside linebacker, Ola Adeniyi, who was activated on Dec. 3 before being cut nine days later.

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Titans promote C.J. Board to active roster among 4 moves

The Titans have also placed DB Lonnie Johnson on injured reserve.

The Tennessee Titans have made four moves ahead of their Week 11 matchup against the Green Bay Packers on “Thursday Night Football”.

The team announced it has placed defensive back Lonnie Johnson on injured reserve due to a hamstring injury. Taking his spot on the roster is wide receiver C.J. Board, who has been promoted from the practice squad.

Board made his Titans debut last week and served as the team’s punt returner. He had a few nice returns and downed one of Ryan Stonehouse’s punts at the five-yard line.

In addition to those moves, the Titans are elevating defensive backs Greg Mabin and Davontae Harris from the practice squad for Week 11.

Harris joined the team this week, while Mabin is a familiar face after having played in five games for the Titans in 2021.

Tennessee and Green Bay will kickoff from Lambeau field at 8:15 p.m. EDT. You can check out all the viewing and listening information below.

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Titans injury updates: Elijah Molden, Lonnie Johnson not practicing

Two members of the Titans’ secondary did not practice on Monday.

After multiple days off, the Tennessee Titans returned to the practice field on Monday, and in the process we got some injury updates on a few players.

According to Jim Wyatt of Titans Online, cornerback Elijah Molden and safety Lonnie Johnson were not spotted at practice. On the bright side, linebacker Zach Cunningham was able to shed his non-contact jersey.

Molden was sidelined for much of training camp after sustaining a leg injury early on. He was able to return to the practice field at one point, but he has now been out for each of the last two practices.

Johnson is a new addition to the walking wounded. It isn’t clear what he’s dealing with exactly.

After an off day on Tuesday, the Titans will return to the practice field on Wednesday, and after that they’ll release their first injury report of 2022, giving us a better idea of where Molden and Johnson stand.

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What are the Chiefs seeing in Texans defensive backs that Houston isn’t?

The Kansas City Chiefs believe they can get something out of Houston Texans defensive backs that the club clearly can’t.

It started with Tyrann Mathieu. The former Arizona Cardinals 2013 third-round safety had a bounce back year with the Houston Texans in 2018, was well liked, loved the city himself, but signed a three-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs.

The “Honey Badger” earned two Pro Bowl appearances and two first-team All-Pro selections. Coming to Houston was the rejuvenation Mathieu needed to get his career back on track.

Then, the Chiefs signed Justin Reid to a three-year deal in free agency.

Then, Kansas City traded for cornerback-turned-safety-then-back-again Lonnie Johnson.

What exactly do the Chiefs see in Texans defensive backs? How are they able to get better production out of them compared to when they were in Houston?

According to Chiefs general manager Brett Veach, the club had their eye on Johnson after the Texans drafted him in the second round from Kentucky in 2019. Kansas City also had Johnson’s former defensive coordinator at Kentucky on staff in Matt House.

The Chiefs were monitoring Johnson’s constant yo-yoing between cornerback and safety with great interest.

“We just kind of make a note of all those conversations and (Lonnie Johnson) was a guy that his name had gotten brought up,” Veach said. “We did have some experience with him. Coach House was here. We went through the process with Lonnie coming out. He was with him at Kentucky and obviously, Justin played with him in Houston. So we were able to talk to both people.

“I think Lonnie was in a situation where he was bouncing around from corner to safety and back to corner, back to safety. I just said, ‘Look we’re pretty good here at safety.’ We have some corners we like, but we also like big, long, press corners. We know he can press, we know he’s physical and we think he’ll come in here and compete.”

In other words, the Chiefs have specific plans for the players they acquire.

The shifting of Johnson between safety and cornerback roles would not be such a problem if not for the fact Houston squandered a second-round talent. Players taken in the top-100 of a draft need to be solid starters for a club throughout their rookie contract, and Johnson was curtailed by having to learn multiple roles. Kansas City knows what they want out of Johnson, and don’t be surprised if he starts to play better than he did while in Houston.