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Austin Johnson pick analysis

By Will Lomas

Dec 27, 2014; Bronx, NY, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions defensive tackle Austin Johnson (99) waves his arms for crowd noise against the Boston College Eagles during the 2014 Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium. Penn State won 31-30 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 27, 2014; Bronx, NY, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions defensive tackle Austin Johnson (99) waves his arms for crowd noise against the Boston College Eagles during the 2014 Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium. Penn State won 31-30 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Tennessee Titans selected Austin Johnson DT, Penn State with the 43rd pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.

Was he on your list?

Yes he was. I think he is a great player who was probably worth of the 31st pick in the 2016 NFL Draft to the Seattle Seahawks.

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    • How can he become an impact player?

    Austin Johnson is a lot of things, but first and foremost he is a bully.

    While he isn’t aggressive on the level of Jack Conklin (few are) he is violent and active with his hands. So much so that he gave Conklin’s teammate Jack Allen a fit in their matchup.

    I am honestly not sure if I wouldn’t just instantly have Austin Johnson as a starter from Day 1. He is an interior penetrator that is stout against the run. He can play 1-tech in your sub package (and should be a lock to do so) and nose tackle in your base package.

    He is quick enough laterally to play against zone blocking schemes and be a headache, and he takes on double teams as well as most of the top-end prospects in this draft.

    Sometimes he gets caught up in finding the ball instead of dealing with his man, but honestly so does every defensive linemen. If he just deals with what is in front of him, 9 times out of 10 when he looks up the ball carrier is there waiting for him.

    I would start him on the defense I mentioned earlier with Dodd, and in the base package I would have:

    LDE: DaQuan Jones

    NT: Austin Johnson

    RDE: Jurrell Casey

    ROLB: Derrick Morgan

    WILB: Wesley Woodyard

    SILB: Avery Williamson

    LOLB: Brian Orakpo

    That front seven has a lot of potential to be very good. Are there any blue-chip players other than Jurrell Casey and Brian Orakpo? Probably not, but you can get play makers once you have the framework of the team set up, which is exactly what Jon Robinson is doing. Now that the nucleus of the defense is in place, and should only get better, this team can get “splash players” down the road.

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    Warning

    Don’t just force him to be a two-gap player. Some of the most impressive film on Johnson is when he is double-teamed as a 1-tech. Often times he does a text book job spliting the blockers i.e.:

    Step 1: Attack one shoulder

    Step 2: Get skinny and slip behind the second blocker

    Step 3: Square your shoulders, find the ball and make a play.

    He is so hard to stop as a 1-tech that it almost a shame when they ask him to two-gap at Penn State. He loses some of his intensity holding back blockers from moving to the second level.

    Instead they should have just let him be a penetrator and a playmaker and get into the backfield. Still despite this, he still ended up with 6.5 sacks and 15 TFLs his final year at Penn State which is pretty darn impressive. For comparison, Leonard Floyd only had 4.5 sacks and 10.5 TFLs

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