Anthony Johnson Jr. 2023 NFL Draft profile: Scout report for the Iowa State SAF

Anthony Johnson Jr., Iowa State: 6’0”, 205 pounds; RS SR

A three-star cornerback recruit in 2018, Anthony Johnson saw good action as a substitute corner his true freshman season.

He followed that up with three solid seasons on the perimeter (157 total tackles, three sacks, 19 PBUs and four forced fumbles, but no interceptions). He took advantage of the COVID exception and moved to safety for his best season (60 tackles, his first two INTs, four PBUs, a sack and forced fumble each) while improving from honorable mention the prior three years to first-team All-Big 12 in 2022.

Anthony Johnson Jr. scout report: Strengths

Anthony Johnson Jr. #26 and Mike Rose #23 of the Iowa State Cyclones celebrate a fourth quarter interception against the TCU Horned Frogs

+ Anthony Johnson is a very solidly built safety with three years of starting experience at corner and an effective transition for his final season with the Cyclones.

+ Played quality snaps at slot, in the box and at deep safety in a pretty creative coverage scheme, where they were calling some invert cover-two and more.

+ Tracks the deep ball exceptionally well and is able to flip his head over the opposite shoulder and get his hands on the pass.

+ Seems to be very comfortable in match-quarters, staying capped over slot receivers, but then efficiently redirecting forward to challenge the catch.

+ When receivers tilt inside, he keeps his leverage towards the sideline, but is ready to burst out of that position once he sees the man he ends up covering commit to working across the field.

+ Quickly erases that space when offenses try to hit drag or slide routes off play-action and he deciphers those from depth.

+ Does a nice job of pushing targets off track and funneling them towards the deep coverage when buzzing down.

+ His experience at corner shows up in how comfortable he is at playing soft press-man against slot receivers.

+ Presents solid speed to stay in phase against inside fade, seam routes and other vertical patterns.

+ Can stick his foot in the ground and get back into the hip-pocket of his guy after breaking away from his leverage.

+ Showcases the ability to elude fellow receivers when they’re in the way of him as he tries to get to his man.

+ His 32-inch arm length helps him crowd the catch-point and challenge passes that are placed well, away from his position.

+ Opposing quarterbacks went 19-of-29 for 236 yards and two touchdowns, compared to two picks (84.8 passer rating).

+ While he’s still mastering his angles from depth due to playing on the outside for so long, he rarely gets overzealous and is able to chase plays down on the sidelines.

+ Charges up the alley with conviction and has no fear of getting banged around as he tries to shoot a crease between bigger bodies out on the edge – You see Anthony Johnson race upfield and meet pulling linemen low out on the perimeter in order to funnel the ball back inside.

+ Doesn’t shy away from crashing through the outside shoulder of tight-ends when lined up on the edge of the defense in order to squeeze down run plays.

+ Really plays like he has no regard for his body a lot of times, but isn’t reckless with his assignments at the same time.

+ Shoots low as a tackler and is able to bring big running backs to a halt on the spot.

+ Got challenged with several tough spots where he had to bring down ball-carriers one-on-one out on the perimeter.

+ Was a regular on punt return and punt coverages (418 career special teams snaps).

Anthony Johnson Jr. scout report: Weaknesses

Running back Bijan Robinson #5 of the Texas Longhorns is tackled by defensive back Anthony Johnson Jr. #26

– At this point, Anthony Johnson regularly just bails deep (in cover-two) and covers grass, opening up windows between him and the shallow zone coverage.

– There’s some clunkiness in the way he flips his hips the other way as a single-high safety.

– Lacks impressive recovery burst to get back into the picture after receivers get him to stop his feet momentarily with stutter-steps or if they work a double-move against him.

– Has a career missed tackle rate of 16.5%, with no improvement to speak of, in terms of the pure numbers – too often overstrides, having to revert to reaching out and trying to trip up guys.

– Overall coming to balance and being able to react laterally as he navigates the trash and tracks the ball-carrier is something he needs to work on.

Anthony Johnson Jr. scout report: Grade

Defensive back Anthony Johnson Jr. #26 of the Iowa State Cyclones tackles running back Bijan Robinson #5 of the Texas Longhorns

Anthony Johnson feels like a gem in this draft class, who I wasn’t really familiar with during the regular season as a prospect. For a former corner, he picked up the details of the safety position remarkably quick, while still having room to grow.

I don’t look at him ever playing center-fielder a whole lot, but I love his smarts in a match-zone based defense and now it’s up to squeezing down windows better in more shell coverages.

The big story with him, of course, is bringing ball-carriers down more regularly, where he certainly needs to calm his feet and do a better job of getting straight wraps on those guys.

However, I don’t believe his missed tackle is totally representative of his technique in that regard (plenty of those come with a ton of space around him and a couple last year just from the tapes I watched, where he was trying to dive at the legs of the ball-carrier rumbling towards the end-zone, as he had no chance of stopping them short otherwise).

When Anthony Johnson doesn’t overshoot the target, I like what he does in that regard. The ceiling may not be through the roof, but this was a very pleasant surprise on my watch list.

Grade: Late third / Early fourth round

You might like other 2023 NFL Draft Scouting Reports: Tyree Wilson (EDGE), Texas Tech; Will Anderson Jr. (EDGE), Alabama; Jaxon Smith-Njigba (WR), Ohio; Zay Flowers (WR), Boston; Jordan Addison (WR), USC; Jordan Addison (WR), USC; Quentin Johnston (WR), TCU; Zach Charbonnet (RB), UCLA; Bijan Robinson (RB), Texas.

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