Haven’s heard much about D. Johnson during OTA’s/mini-camp. I was hoping he and Stukes would move Pola-Mao to the bench. I did learn this about Johnson’s time in Arizona, where he played 3 years with Stukes and G. Smith under different DC:
In 2022 and 2023, Johnson primarily played in the box as a rover/strong safety. His single free safety and pure nickel slot corner snaps were kept to a minimum. He acted as a downhill, aggressive run defender, leading the Wildcats in total tackles both seasons.
His final year marked an intentional schematic shift by Arizona's coaching staff to drop Johnson deeper into coverage and match him against slot receivers, which unlocked his career-high 88.6 PFF coverage grade. His (non-short yardage) alignments were divided nearly evenly between SS, FS and NB:
| Position Alignment | 2025 Snaps | Role Percentage |
|---|
| Rover/Strong Safety (In the Box) | 271 snaps | ~35.1% |
| Split/Free Safety (Two / Single Deep) | 247 snaps | ~32.0% |
| Nickel Back (Slot Corner) | 233 snaps | ~30.2% |
| Boundary Cornerback | 3 snaps | ~0.4% |
Johnson’s better in coverage and more versatile than his draft profiles indicated. In fact, while Stukes started as a boundary/outside CB while Johnson played in the box and Smith played FS, in 2025, Stukes shifted to splitting time playing nickel/slot CB (64%) and rover/SS (33%) playing relatively few snaps at FS (3%), where Smith and Johnson lined up, even though Stukes was a late riser due to his projected ability to play FS in the NFL.
During OTA’s and mini-camp, it sounded like both T. Johnson and Chinn were also getting reps at FS (split or single deep safety), not just Stukes, Pola-Mao and D. Johnson. Gonna be interesting which 2 or 3 win the starting jobs and who is the first off the bench. Still hoping it’s not Pola-Mao.
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