2022 NFL Draft Prospect Profile: Edge Jermaine Johnson II, Florida State

Edge rusher Jermaine Johnson II helped his draft stock at the Senior Bowl. What can he bring to a defense? Nick has your breakdown.

Jermaine Johnson II, EDGE

Height: 6’5
Weight: 254 lbs.
Class: RS-Senior
School: Florida State
Arm length: 34”
Hand size: 9⅞”

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A four-star recruit out of Eden Prairie High School, in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, Johnson was the number one ranked transfer recruit in the 2019 cycle, according to 247 Sports. Johnson originally attended Independence Community College and went the JUCO route. While at Independence, he was featured in the third season of Last Chance U - a Netflix documentary series.

Johnson had to attend Independence because he was academically ineligible to play Division I football. After his time at JUCO, Johnson transferred to Georgia for two seasons before ultimately transferring from the Bulldogs to Florida State for his senior year. Johnson was good at Florida and was caught in a deep rotation that didn’t maximize his skill-sets. He bet on himself in 2021, and now he’s in the discussion to be a top ten pick.

Notables

Johnson played two seasons at Georgia, recording 29 pressures and six sacks. He transferred to Florida State for one season, where he earned 46 pressures, 11.5 sacks, 17.5 tackles for a loss, 70 total tackles, two pass breakups, two forced fumbles, and a touchdown. Johnson earned first-team All-ACC honors and was the ACC Defensive Player of the Year. In his first season with an ACC program, he was the first player in ACC history to earn defensive or offensive Player of the Year. He was also a Walter Camp All-American.

Johnson had one of the best Senior Bowl weeks of all the prospects in Mobile, Alabama. At the end of practice one, Lions’ coach Dan Campbell had Johnson and Kentucky’s Darian Kinnard square off in a three-play matchup. Johnson converted speed to power on the first play, lifted the 340-pound Kinnard, and slammed him to the ground with a long-arm move. Johnson opted out of Thursday’s practice and the game. He then looked great at the Combine; here are his numbers:

• 40-yard-dash: 4.58
• Vertical jump: 32”
• Broad jump: 125”

View all of Nick Falato's draft prospect profiles right here / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Strengths

• Excellent size, length, and weight
• Excellent athletic ability and burst
• Moves well laterally and has great footwork
• Explodes off the snap quickly - explodes low to high, lifting blockers upward
• Very physical player who plays with authority
• Hands are very violent and active
• Heavy hands - force behind punch is noticable
• Uses solid aiming points and power when striking with hands
• Relentless when attempting to disengage from blocks - a lot of different moves
• Limits the surface area of his chest during a rush - keeps active hands to keep chest clean
• Explodes off ball and stutters to keep OL guessing
• Quick enough to win the edge with enough bend to corner into the pocket
• A variety of primary pass-rushing moves, gets to counters quickly
• Converts speed to power well
• Great run defender who uses his length exceptionally
• Lowers his hips and locks OL out while flashing eyes on RBs path
• Squeezes interior gaps and has ability to set a firm edge
• Difficult to block - plays relentless in a phone booth
• Excellent overall play strength
• Great open field pursuit when tracking ball-carriers down
• Delivers punishing thud at point of contact
• Good tackler with large tackle radius - finishes violently
• Can drop into coverage, albeit isn’t his best use
• Excellent overall competitive toughness

Can Improve

• Bend isn’t elite, but it’s more than sufficient
• When setting the edge, he would give up his outside shoulder and attempt to contain with low leverage - needs to shade outside better
• Will shade towards B-gap too often when in contain assignments
• Although I appreciated his aiming points at times, he attempted to disengage with physicality rather than technique
• Only has one year of real production

Summary

Overall, Jermaine Johnson II is a violent two-way defender who sets a firm edge and plays with good leverage/length at the point of attack as a run defender while providing defenses with plenty of pass-rushing moves, an ability to convert good speed to superior power, and an insatiable nature to separate from blocks and annihilate the quarterback.

Johnson possesses heavy hands and violence when rushing the passer and employs a secondary counter move to break the grasp of OL. He also does well to reduce the surface area of his chest when he rushes - not providing OL a clean shot to latch. He is flexible – doesn’t have elite bend -- and he could be a bit more disciplined as a run defender, but that’s coachable. Johnson can be a difference-making EDGE at the NFL level, and he should be a top-15 selection.

GRADE: 6.80

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