Analysis of Eric Johnson (1 Viewer)

SammyDaLoon

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Before anyone goes back to his glory years as a TE in San Fran everyone should know that the only reason he caught so many balls in San Fran is because he was literally all they had. They didn't have a #1 or #2 WR and a young RB at the time he caught his balls.

Eric Johnson at his best is a marginal TE that doesn't have the running ability to get to or even behind the second level of a defense w/ any decent level of consistency. His inability to do this causes linebackers to not respect his speed thus giving them the option to focus on the run first and not sit in coverage at all. Essentially most any NFL Linebacker can cheat towards the line with a step or two when he is in the lineup and still have enough speed to catch up or stop Eric Johnson if he catches the ball. We were victimized by this time and time again last year.

Also the reason he takes way too many big hits(he has a history of this..think back to Dale Carter broken collar bone) is because he lacks field awareness coupled with the fact that he severely lacks atheltic ability to get any type of seperation on even the slowest linebackers in the game. If you have the time, do a quick review of his overall "game" and you will see that he appears as though he is running in sand.

Eric Johnson is also widely known to be a poor to moderate blocker, so the defense immediately thinks pass play when he is in the game. Drew Brees is left at a huge risk when Eric Johnson is in the lineup, and that in itself should cause concern for all on this board.

Last but not least, one of Eric Johnson's best attributes coming into last season were his supposed reliable hands, and I have seen enough to cast a very large shadown of doubt on him in that category.

Finally, Eric is a smart player and a good character guy from what we can tell. He is a "try-hard" type that sometimes get blown up due to not having the athletic ability to protect himself or his QB on the field.

Eric Johnson will be CUT by the end of training camp as long as Billy Miller, Campbell, and TE "to be drafted" dont get injured. Miller and Campbell are much better blockers than Eric. Heck Payton went so far as to name Ronnie Ghent as and i quote "a good young TE".... Draw your own conclusions... Payton nearly dismissed Eric Johnson in the interview on WWL if you listen closely.

Billy Miller is a far superior TE to Eric Johnson in ALL facets of the game....hands, speed, toughness, character, and YAC !!! For goodness sakes...Billy made a HUGE 56 yard play against the Jaguars which was the best play by a Saints TE since Hobby Brenner or Wesley Walls..

The Saints back my statements here by signing Billy 1st and giving him a 2yr contract to boot!!!


Take it easy gang,
samdogg
 
Although maybe a little harsh on Eric Johnson, I tend to agree with your overall statement that Miller should be our starter. I think his performace last year in comparison to Eric proves that. Although Eric has historically had great hands for a TE. He got a 1 year deal last year to prove it. He didn't live up to expectations, but he also didn't totally totally disappoint (although that Texans game was hard to swallow). Either way, I like the fact that they gave him another 1 year deal. They basically said that he didn't prove them right or wrong last year, so let's try again. But again, Billy Miller really surprised me last year with how well he played and how he truly stepped up whenever asked, and i would be very happy to have him as our starting TE this year.
 
That was a good post in the Eric Johnson thread, but it was not necessary to start your own thread on the subject. Keeping opinions and information about a subject in one thread helps reduce forum clutter. If everyone started a new thread about their opinion of E Johnson, other threads about other subject will get pushed out of the first page and those subjects will keep getting rehashed.

Again nice post, but please be conscientious of starting new threads about a subject already well evolved.

Thanks
 
That was a good post in the Eric Johnson thread, but it was not necessary to start your own thread on the subject. Keeping opinions and information about a subject in one thread helps reduce forum clutter. If everyone started a new thread about their opinion of E Johnson, other threads about other subject will get pushed out of the first page and those subjects will keep getting rehashed.

Again nice post, but please be conscientious of starting new threads about a subject already well evolved.

Thanks

The post was well thought out, but I agree, it seemed like he was answering another post. Anyway, we don't have one bonafide starting caliber TE on this team.
 
I am a harsh critic of EJ, but man, that post was a really, really harsh. I agree with some of your comments, however, disagree with you on certain points.

Speed: Actually, Eric Johnson has a bit more speed than you give him credit for. I disagree that this is one of his major flaws. The big hits that you mention, and he takes quite a few, occur when he is sitting in zones (rather than running at top speed). His problem is that he doesn't protect himself, or the ball very well following the completion. He immediately stands upright and doesn't fall forward. He exposes himself and absorbs hits rather than getting low and moving forward for positive yardage. This does not result from a lack of speed. He demonstrates poor technique and hesitates following the catch. I do agree that a big part of this is a lack of field awareness.

I yawned upon hearing of the EJ signing. Having said that, however, there is not much downside to bringing him in to compete for depth.
 
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Before anyone goes back to his glory years as a TE in San Fran everyone should know that the only reason he caught so many balls in San Fran is because he was literally all they had. They didn't have a #1 or #2 WR and a young RB at the time he caught his balls.

Eric Johnson at his best is a marginal TE that doesn't have the running ability to get to or even behind the second level of a defense w/ any decent level of consistency. His inability to do this causes linebackers to not respect his speed thus giving them the option to focus on the run first and not sit in coverage at all. Essentially most any NFL Linebacker can cheat towards the line with a step or two when he is in the lineup and still have enough speed to catch up or stop Eric Johnson if he catches the ball. We were victimized by this time and time again last year.

Also the reason he takes way too many big hits(he has a history of this..think back to Dale Carter broken collar bone) is because he lacks field awareness coupled with the fact that he severely lacks atheltic ability to get any type of seperation on even the slowest linebackers in the game. If you have the time, do a quick review of his overall "game" and you will see that he appears as though he is running in sand.

Eric Johnson is also widely known to be a poor to moderate blocker, so the defense immediately thinks pass play when he is in the game. Drew Brees is left at a huge risk when Eric Johnson is in the lineup, and that in itself should cause concern for all on this board.

Last but not least, one of Eric Johnson's best attributes coming into last season were his supposed reliable hands, and I have seen enough to cast a very large shadown of doubt on him in that category.

Finally, Eric is a smart player and a good character guy from what we can tell. He is a "try-hard" type that sometimes get blown up due to not having the athletic ability to protect himself or his QB on the field.

Eric Johnson will be CUT by the end of training camp as long as Billy Miller, Campbell, and TE "to be drafted" dont get injured. Miller and Campbell are much better blockers than Eric. Heck Payton went so far as to name Ronnie Ghent as and i quote "a good young TE".... Draw your own conclusions... Payton nearly dismissed Eric Johnson in the interview on WWL if you listen closely.

Billy Miller is a far superior TE to Eric Johnson in ALL facets of the game....hands, speed, toughness, character, and YAC !!! For goodness sakes...Billy made a HUGE 56 yard play against the Jaguars which was the best play by a Saints TE since Hobby Brenner or Wesley Walls..

The Saints back my statements here by signing Billy 1st and giving him a 2yr contract to boot!!!


Take it easy gang,
samdogg

Does Eric do anything right? And what makes you think he has less character than Billy Miller.
 
pretty harsh, and I do not agree that a player who caught 48 passes last year is so horrible. We can blame Payton for his YAC, since they had him running these 3 yard outs (probably a safety valve since they no longer had Deuce). and downplaying his 82 catches in San Fran makes as much sense as saying the same thing about Antonio gates in SD (since EJ was their only weapon as you say, then first, you are admitting he was a weapon and the most skilled player on that offense, and second, the defenses would be keying on him and he still caught 82 balls...so, why is that a bad thing??). EJ is no world beater, but he is easily our best te, aqnd we would be in worse shape if we did not have him....what, does he owe you money or something?
 
The post was well thought out, but I agree, it seemed like he was answering another post. Anyway, we don't have one bonafide starting caliber TE on this team.

Not many teams have top flight tight ends on their roster, they are actully very hard to come by. Out of 32 teams, I think there are only 6 or 7 elite tight ends and then a whole bunch (if not the rest) are regular run of the mill TEs like Billy Miller or Eric Johnson.

My list of top tight ends in no particular order:
Tony Gonzalez
Chris cooley
Antonio Gates
Dallas Clark
Kellen winslow
Jason witten

some borderline players: Jeremy Shockey and Owen Daniels

The rest are basically tied for ninth place. Also notice that 5 of the top 8 are first round picks and all of these players are with their original teams that selected them. So if the Saints want a top tight end, the best place would be the first round of the draft...cough...cough...Greg Olsen...cough...cough..
 
On the other hand, it was a great rant (too severe or not, who knows, but a great rant) I never would have read otherwise, and it's not like he pushed somebody's posting of the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem off page one.
 
That was a good post in the Eric Johnson thread, but it was not necessary to start your own thread on the subject. Keeping opinions and information about a subject in one thread helps reduce forum clutter. If everyone started a new thread about their opinion of E Johnson, other threads about other subject will get pushed out of the first page and those subjects will keep getting rehashed.

Again nice post, but please be conscientious of starting new threads about a subject already well evolved.

Thanks

On the other hand, it was a great rant (too severe or not, who knows, but a great rant) I never would have read otherwise, and it's not like he pushed somebody's posting of the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem off page one.



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You say that it was EJ's presence that allowed the defense to chea towards the run...I disagree. I think it was actually our lack of a running game that hindered EJ. Throughout most of the season we has NO running game and LBs were able to cheat on the passing routes because of it, making it harder for EJ to get seperation and YAC.
 
his wunderlick must have been off the charts...j/k

Here is a guy with tremendous potential that we need big things from.

I like the way our OL is coming around. I wonder how much of a problem needing to chip on the ends (especially on the RT side) is to a TE trying to have an excellent recieving performance?
 
I think Miller starts for us, I dont think Johnson makes the final 53...I think a rookie TE will get that #3 spot behind Miller and Campbell.
 
Payton nearly dismissed Eric Johnson in the interview on WWL if you listen closely.

Well thought out points. I agree in general, but not the severity of your points. And the WWL interview with Payton (if it is the one I downloaded from St. Chadwick yesterday) wasn't it prior to the signing of EJ?
 

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