Like Bo Melton and Karl Brooks, Anthony Johnson Jr. will be an under-the-radar contributor for the Green Bay Packers in 2024. The Packers selected “AJJ,” as he is known within the organization, in the seventh round last year (No. 242 overall) out of Iowa State University.
Johnson started and played most of his college career as a cornerback. He started as a freshman before moving to safety for his senior season. Johnson played four seasons at corner before taking advantage of the extra COVID-19 year granted to players and returned for a final fifth season at his new position.
He had his best season as a senior, recording 60 tackles, two interceptions, and four pass breakups, which earned him second-team All-Big 12 honors. A consistent performer, Johnson ranks second in Iowa State history in games played with 65 and never finished a season with a sub-69.4 overall grade, which is impressive in a major conference.
His versatility and experience undoubtedly appealed to the Packers, leading them to take a flyer on him at the end of the draft. If there are two things that we know Brian Gutekunst values in his draft picks, it’s versatility and experience, and “AJJ” fits the bill with both.
On the surface, it may not seem like Johnson has an obvious role or fit on this year’s team because Green Bay invested in its safety room this offseason. After rostering an underwhelming group last year, led by the ever-frustrating Darnell Savage, the Packers realized that if they wanted to take the next step as a team and contend for a world championship, they needed to make some improvements.
The ordinarily quiet Packers made a huge early splash in the free-agent market when they signed Xavier McKinney to a four-year, $67 million contract to be the leader at the position.
Then they supplemented McKinney in true draft-and-develop fashion (this is the Packers, after all). Brian Gutekunst had one of his trademark drafts at a position where he spent multiple picks to help address a need and fortify a position. To solidify the position for many years, he spent second-, fourth-, and fifth-round picks on Javon Bullard, Evan Williams, and Kitan Oladapo to bring in youth, energy, and quality experience at the college level. Giving the Packers their deepest and most talented safety room in years.
So, where does this leave the lone returning player from the underwhelming 2023 group? Since we have seen Bullard and Williams taking the bulk of snaps with the first-team defense opposite McKinney throughout most of training camp, it is safe to assume one of them will be starting come Week 1 in Brazil, and the other will be the first off the bench due to injury or used in sub packages.
Oladapo missed most of the offseason and recently returned to action. Therefore, he has had to catch up to get acclimated to the pro game and will likely not be ready to contribute until mid-season. With Oladapo sidelined and Bullard and Williams adjusting to the NFL game, we saw Johnson receive first-team reps during the off-season program.
As an organization, Green Bay is more hesitant than most other teams regarding starting rookies too soon and asking too much of them. That created an opportunity for Johnson to handle those reps as a starter. By all accounts, he held his own. He started games in the NFL for this team last season, making him the second-most experienced player on the roster at safety.
Johnson appeared in 14 games (including playoffs) last year, with four starts, recording 26 tackles, three pass breakups, and an interception. That’s good production from a seventh-round rookie and the exact type of value a team tries to find late in the draft.
If one (or both) of the rookies struggles immediately, the Packers could call on Johnson to get onto the field, take some pressure off Bullard and Williams, and allow the rookies time to regroup and adapt to the NFL game. The change in defensive philosophy and scheme should benefit him as a physical player who isn’t afraid to tackle – an essential trait for any safety to succeed.
Johnson has put together a good camp and has played a lot. He shined in parts of the preseason action, finishing with eight tackles, including the scoop-and-score in Green Bay’s final game against the Baltimore Ravens. If injuries strike the safety or cornerback room, we could see Johnson in certain dime packages as an extra defensive back over players such as Kalen King or Kitan Oladapo due to his versatility and experience.
Like all middle-to-end-of-the-roster players, he’s likely to make his most significant impact this season on special teams. Rich Bisaccia loves to use safeties on his special teams units, so we can expect to see Johnson on most, if not all, of the units this season. The Packers didn’t bring back Rudy Ford, who played that special teams ace role in the safety room last season, and fellow safeties Benny Sapp III and Zayne Anderson might lose out on the roster crunch, so there are going to be plenty of snaps on special teams to go around. Green Bay is dying for someone to embrace that core special teamer role.
With core special teamer Eric Wilson lining up as a starting linebacker in the team’s new 4-3 base due to Edgerrin Cooper’s injuries, Wilson could potentially be taking on more responsibility, allowing Johnson to become a core special teamer and make a real impact for this team.
Green Bay’s special teams unit has been a bugaboo for seemingly forever. Still, if Anthony Johnson Jr. can make a strong impact for Bisaccia’s squad, on top of a few splash plays when he gets on the field on defense, he could have a long career in Titletown.
