The Rams Wisely Keep Trumaine Johnson With Tag
- Updated: March 3, 2017
In the end, the Rams had little choice.
Just hours before the deadline, the Los Angeles Rams placed the nonexclusive franchise tag on CB Trumaine Johnson. This is the 2nd year in a row that Johnson received that designation.
Trumaine Johnson is coming off a down year. That is true. He recorded 57 tackles, 11 defensed passes, and only one interception. Those are pedestrian numbers. The prior year, when he was selected over Janoris Jenkins to receive the franchise tag, he recorded 71 tackles, 17 defensed passes, and 7 interceptions. That last statistic tied for 2nd in the league. That’s better.
Still, coming out of 2016, Pro Football Focus ranks Trumaine Johnson as the 26th best player in the league at his position. Considering, at any given time, there are 64 starting cornerbacks in the NFL, that places Johnson near the top of the middle third of the league. Let’s call that “above average.”
But the Rams had little choice.
Trumaine Johnson is listed at 6’2”, 208 pounds on NFL.com. That’s big for a starting cornerback. Wade Phillips, the incoming defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams, loves big cornerbacks. He had amazing success at his last stop with Aqib Talib and Chris Harris of the Denver Broncos. Phillips likes to press, play man, and apply pressure on the QB. Johnson fits that role.
Without Trumaine Johnson the Los Angeles Rams have E.J. Gaines (5’10”, 190), Lamarcus Joyner (5’8”, 184), and little else. Gaines has missed the better part of the last two seasons with injuries. Joyner is a talented slot corner and will undoubtedly hold the nickel role again next year. That leaves nobody to fill the role of Trumaine Johnson but Trumaine Johnson.
The free agent pool in 2017 provides few answers. The only two cornerbacks in free agency ranked higher, on most lists, are A.J. Bouye (6’0”, 191) and Stephon Gilmore (6’1, 190”). Both fit the mold. Bouye is coming off a breakout year and could command as much as $12 million a season with his next contract. Gilmore could get more than $14 million. Although both contracts would net substantially less of a cap hit than Johnson’s nearly $17 million franchise tender, neither are guaranteed to be a Ram in 2017. Trumaine Johnson is guaranteed to be a Ram, courtesy of the tag. A bird in the hand, as they say.
The Rams still have until the middle of July to negotiate a long-term contract with Trumaine Johnson. Some sources have called that unlikely. If not, Johnson will play the 2017 season as the highest paid corner in the league. The ultimate show-me year. If Trumaine Johnson can emerge in Wade Phillips’ often-dominating defense as a shutdown corner, he’ll have earned that and more. He’ll get a locked-in, life-altering contract somewhere, perhaps with the Rams. If not he’ll get a pedestrian contract with another club.
It was important for the Los Angeles Rams to secure Trumaine Johnson for the 2017 season. Sean McVay brings a new system in this year to resuscitate the league’s worst offense. There is little in the way of proven talent on that side of the ball. On defense, the Rams have excelled the last few years and now have added the important element of one of the league’s finest defensive minds. Keeping the defense intact was perhaps more important than any single factor going into 2017. Just to stay competitive, the Rams needed to know they had one unit they could count on. The front seven on the defense is fine. The front four is perhaps the best in the league. In the secondary, there are questions with Trumaine Johnson and an all-out emergency without him.
Just hours before the deadline the Rams made Trumaine Johnson the highest paid cornerback in the league. They kept the defense intact.
In the end, the Rams had little choice.
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