Dallas Cowboys Draft: 5 Best Available Prospects on Day 3

Jamar Johnson, SAF, Indiana

The Cowboys haven’t fixed their safety problem in this draft and after hearing Stephen Jones’s comments Friday night, it is hard to predict if the team would’ve drafted TCU safety Trevon Moehrig with the 44th overall pick had the Raiders not taken him the pick before. Maybe Johnson forces them to pay attention?

Johnson projects as a free safety at the next level displaying solid athletic ability and solid range. He does display solid instincts and route recognition to match receivers correctly but will suffer lapses in coverage because he lacks eye discipline to consistently key the QBs’ eyes in zone coverage while covering his 1/3 or 1/2 of the field.

When he sees things correctly, he displays enough change of direction and acceleration to match routes; when he misses reads his athletic ability isn’t good enough to save him. Even though he has seven interceptions in his three years in Bloomington, he only has five pass deflections. His flashes are good, they just don’t happen enough. That’s probably why he is still available for teams to select.

Formerly a cornerback, Johnson also displays solid man coverage ability with good body control and instincts to react to the WR’s hips and mirror his footwork and route stem. His solid athletic ability allows him to play off coverage and transition towards the receiver out of breaks.

Johnson struggles to play near the line of scrimmage. He displays adequate competitive toughness and play strength to consistently make tackles near the line of scrimmage. That just doesn’t seem to be a big part of his game as even in the open field he doesn’t tackle consistently.

Johnson might finally break the Cowboys streak of “not drafting a rangy free safety” which, if you noticed, would be an incredibly good thing. It is unfortunate that this front office still doesn’t have a great grasp of positional value in the year 2021 with the amount of data available to them.