In a surprise move, the Cleveland Browns drafted Roderick Johnson in the fifth round. Could he be the heir apparent to Joe Thomas?
The Cleveland Browns do not need to find Joe Thomas’ heir apparent. Thomas is playing at an extremely high level. He is showing small signs of regression but Thomas’ regression is better than most people’s careers. So, let’s just put the “finding Joe Thomas’ successor” talk on hold.
It was surprising to see the Browns take an offensive tackle in the fifth round when the team selected Roderick Johnson. With left tackle established and a right tackle competition heading into camp, taking another offensive tackle is a bit unusual.
Most NFL rosters only carry three tackles during the season. Adding a fourth tackle means that Johnson must beat out Shon Coleman or Cameron Erving for a roster spot or it means he will have to sit on the practice squad for 2017. Putting Johnson on the practice squad would be a risky proposition.
Roderick Johnson hails from one of the three college football programs who still do a good job developing offensive linemen. Florida State, along with Wisconsin and Iowa, runs a pro-style offense that asks their linemen to do what NFL linemen do. Plus, Florida State has one of the best college offensive line coaches in Rick Trickett.
But who is the Roderick Johnson and why would the Browns take a chance on him?
Roderick Johnson fits the profile of the type of player the Browns take chances on. He is an extremely athletic player who needs to add bulk and refine technique. In similar vein, this is the exact profile of players like Austin Reiter and Anthony Fabiano.
The move is a gamble. The Browns are taking athletic players gambling that the strength and conditioning staff can get them NFL-ready. They are also gambling that the coaching staff can take these raw athletes and turn them into productive NFL players.
If a coach were to create an ideal left tackle in terms of height, arm length, upper body strength and athleticism, the result would be Roderick Johnson. In this respect, the heir apparent to left tackle makes sense. He looks the part.
The trick for the Browns is to get him to play the part.
Run blocking is a serious strength for Johnson. In fact, to say he is pro-ready as a run blocker is not an exaggeration. He gets serious movement on double teams. He climbs to the second level and destroys linebackers. He will pull and lead around the edge for running backs. There is very little this guy cannot do extremely well as a run blocker.
Conversely, his pass protection is high school ready at best. Johnson is proportionately bad at pass blocking as he is good at run blocking.
Johnson will need to learn the fundamentals of pass blocking from the ground up. His upper body plays out of sync with his lower body. He leans into his pass blocks which allows defenders to use his body weight against him. He fails to set his feet properly which opens him up to power moves like bull rushes. His footwork fundamentals are bad causing him to get off-balance when he is not leaning.
He has not developed as a pass blocker because he has not had to. With his long arms, he has been able to latch on to defenders and lean on them. But the NFL is a whole new world where grab and lean is not effective.
As a pass blocker, Roderick Johnson is a major project. Bob Wylie will need to be patient and start with the most basic of the basic with him. In short, he will need every magic trick he can muster to turn Johnson into a pass blocker.
Anyone have any extra fairy dust?
Johnson should be thrown into the mix at right tackle. It will be tempting to throw him out there day one as the starting right tackle and teach him to pass block on the fly. However, having gone through six quarterbacks during the Austin Pasztor experiment should make the coaching staff think twice about that.
At minimum, Johnson should be brought in for jumbo sets as a tight end to block. His ability to create movement at the line of scrimmage and get to the second level is too good to leave on the bench.
He is a better run blocker coming out of college than both Shon Coleman or Cameron Erving. Erving was the best pass blocker at tackle coming out of college. Shon Coleman has learned for a year and looks extremely promising as a run blocker.
The right tackle position battle will be extremely interesting to watch. All three candidates bring strengths and weakness to the table.
Depending on how Johnson develops, he could be a long-term answer at right tackle. And even though I still want to put the heir apparent at level tackle talk on hold, he could be a phenomenal left tackle.
But he must figure out how to pass block at the NFL level.
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He has a long way to go and a short time to get there.