The Houston Texans threw rookie cornerback Lonnie Johnson into the fire.
By Week 2 of his inaugural NFL season, Johnson was a starting cornerback for the Texans, entering the lineup after Houston released cornerback Aaron Colvin. However, his prominent role on defense didn’t last long.
Johnson has not played more than 50% of defensive snaps since Week 11’s Baltimore Ravens’ drubbing of the Texans. Why did the Texans regulate their young defensive starter to special teams?
“Well, the thing is that we have some other guys who have played in the league on the team we’ve added since we had Lonnie, so they are doing pretty good,” defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel said on Thursday.
The Texans made Johnson, a Kentucky product, a second-round pick in April. Since then, they’ve tinkered with their lineup, adding former first-round picks Gareon Conley (2017) and Vernon Hargreaves (2016) via trade and waivers, respectively. The two are starters, with Hargreaves acting as Houston’s nickel.
The Texans are letting Johnson grow behind the two. Rather than throw an experienced corner into the fire for the rest of the season, they want him to develop heading into 2020. That comes as no surprise, as rookie cornerbacks often struggle.
I tell Lonnie all the time, I say, ‘You’re still a rookie and you’ve still got a lot to learn,’ Crennel said. “He’s learned a lot since he’s been with us, but the ability to learn the receivers that you have to go against week in and week out, he doesn’t have that catalog built up yet. So he’s going to have to build that catalog so that he can just refer to his notes when he goes up against a guy and he’ll know what to expect and how he should be able to play him.”
Johnson earned seven starts in 13 games played. In doing so, the 22-year-old tallied 36 combined tackles and seven pass deflections while allowing a 105.4 passer rating in coverage, per Pro Football Reference.
Expect Johnson to re-establish himself as a defender in the future.