3 Browns players who could imitate Shohei Ohtani and play both ways

2. John Johnson III, DB to WR

When players do move from one side to the other, it’s often a defensive back moving to wide receiver. While the positions aren’t exactly interchangeable, they do usually have similar skill sets and the defensive backs have to know how receivers run their routes.

Deion Sanders might be the most famous defensive back to play both ways but we have also seen Troy Brown and Julian Edelman of the Patriots move from wide receiver to defensive back as well — which shows that the move is possible if the player is talented enough.

For the Cleveland Browns, there’s one player in their secondary who could imitate Shohei Ohtani and move to the offensive side of the ball — John Johnson III. The biggest free-agent signing of the offseason, Johnson is a stellar safety who could shore up the back end of the Cleveland defense.

He also could play wideout in a pinch, especially considering he played the position for Northwestern High School. Sure, it’s been a while since he’s gone out and run routes but the 6-foot-1, 208-pound defensive back surely wouldn’t be lost if the team needed him to take up the mantle — and if he was there in Week 16 of the 2020 season, the idea may have actually been kicked around.