Houston Texans News: Lonnie Johnson Jr. is player to watch in 2020
One of the players that could be in the Houston Texans news headlines in 2020 for improved play in cornerback Lonnie Johnson Jr.
Some of the Houston Texans news this offseason needs to be that it is time everyone knows the name Lonnie Johnson Jr. better this season. He’s coming off a rookie season that saw him gain valuable regular season experience as a first-year pro, but also playoff experience with great high’s and low’s.
The Texans selected Lonnie Johnson Jr. with one of their two second round picks in 2019, and even then out of the University of Kentucky it was an exciting moment for the Texans franchise to add to the cornerback position. It was also known they’d be some growing pains as well for the fact he was a rookie play a pressure-packed position in the NFL.
Seeing the progression a player has made in their second year is always exciting, and that is one of the aspects of the offseason to look forward to when training camp begins for Johnson Jr.
In Johnson’s rookie season in a secondary where it wasn’t breaking Texans news that they weren’t the the greatest, Johnson was targeted 52 times by the opposing offense in ’19. Johnson allowed 33 receptions, and also made 33 solo tackles. The rookie cornerback had no interceptions, and his PFF grade for the season was 36.0.
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During that ’19 season, Johnson Jr. played 529 defensive snaps during the regular season, which equaled 49.12 percent of snaps played by the Texans. He also played 99 snaps on special teams, 23.4 percent of special teams snaps played by Houston.
On Thursday in a video conference with the Houston Texans news media, defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver spoke about Johnson Jr. and gave his thoughts about the cornerbacks of the Texans:
"“The cornerback position, particularly for rookies, is a difficult one. To come in and have success early at corner is not easy. Those guys, they’re out there on those islands, they’re all by themselves and sometimes they’re just not being put in the best positions.”"
Weaver continued in with his comments via Texans news transcripts provided by HoustonTexans.com:
"“We’ve got to help them. I’ve got the utmost faith in our DB room. They’re competitive, they’re talented and they can make plays, but we’ve got to help them up front. We’ve got to affect the quarterback somehow, some way to get that ball out quicker and not just leave those guys on islands.”"
Johnson Jr. will be in the mix at cornerback with players such as Gareon Conley, Bradley Roby, Phillip Gaines, and Keion Crossen, plus don’t forget Vernon Hargreaves and rookie John Reid from Penn State. The cornerback position will be exciting to watch this training camp because there is a lot of untapped potential waiting to be the star of the Texans secondary.
Now what will be the Texans news this offseason is they have important decisions to make as to where they will be playing Johnson this upcoming season. According to his Twitter account he’s putting in the work to be a better player than he was as a rookie.
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It isn’t breaking Texans news that Johnson is one of the “must watch” players this training camp. It is a safe bet to make that the work ethic is there for the second-year player, now it will be fun to watch to see how it all progresses onto the field on game day.