John Johnson: Tag 'n Trade?

[PhillyRam]

I don’t see the point for the team receiving him.

Dee Ford was tagged and traded. Clark was grom the Seahawks to Chiefs as well... I was hoping they would do that last yr with Fowler.

The plus for the aquiring team is they lock the guy up without bidding against other teams, but sure they would prefer to not have to trade, but if you tag him they have no choice.

Then they just have to ink a long-term deal and likely the players agent would be involved in the trade anyway.

Floyd on a sign abd trade to the Chargers makes sense. You force the Chargers to deal with you.

 

[Merlin]

Seems like the requirements for a tag and trade are cap space and enough interest around the league that the tag 'n trade doesn't gum up your other plans.

So I presume the Rams could do this cap-wise. But would there be that hot and heavy quick interest in Johnson so that they could quickly get on with the rest of their offseason plans? I think so. Probably most here do. But there's a really nice safety group in FA this year too that won't cost picks and they're also one of the cheapest groups to pay on the market. Maybe we're overvaluing him idk.

 

[Mojo Ram]

He's a Safety. We've got bigger fish to fry. I don't see it. Hope he goes to the AFC and has a great career.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Floyd on a sign abd trade to the Chargers makes sense. You force the Chargers to deal with you.

Might be the better option?

I don’t expect the Rams to tag anyone, myself.

 

[BatteringRambo]

It's simple let JJ3 walk, earn his well deserved pot of gold and use our 3rd round comp pick next draft on a valuable asset whatever position that may be.

 

[So Ram]

He's a Safety. We've got bigger fish to fry. I don't see it. Hope he goes to the AFC and has a great career.

JJ like I said is a good fit for Chargers.He called plays for Staley’s defense last season.

The Rams have Taylor Rapp who is a tackling machine.Just needs to be coached better though.

 

[So Ram]

Might be the better option?

I don’t expect the Rams to tag anyone, myself.

Will see ? Reports are finally coming out they might use it though.
I’m for it though.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Will see ? Reports are finally coming out they might use it though.
I’m for it though.

I hope they do, because that tells me they know they can deal him. Or leverage that for something.

 

[Dz1]

JJ like I said is a good fit for Chargers.He called plays for Staley’s defense last season.

The Rams have Taylor Rapp who is a tackling machine.Just needs to be coached better though.

Rapp couldnt be JJ3 in his dreams. And coaching has nothing to due with his flaws.

Go back to many NFL scouts, can't cover, will be injured, plays to big for his body.

Anyone saying the kid can't be coached by the guy that just had the 1 D, well.

And add if coaching is lacking, how the heck did Fuller do what he did ?

 

[FrantikRam]

Another concern I have losing JJ:

How much did his presence help Fuller? We had an average safety in Fuller and a very good one in JJ - losing him could make both safety spots plummet to below average

 

[So Ram]

I hope they do, because that tells me they know they can deal him. Or leverage that for something.

Yeah - like you said about the salary cap.What really blows
My mind in a sense if you look at The Rams and The Franchise cap over all there years with Play is sort crazy.
Then add how why free Agency became a thing.

 

[So Ram]

Rapp couldnt be JJ3 in his dreams. And coaching has nothing to due with his flaws.

Go back to many NFL scouts, can't cover, will be injured, plays to big for his body.

Anyone saying the kid can't be coached by the guy that just had the 1 D, well.

And add if coaching is lacking, how the heck did Fuller do what he did ?

What I go see from Rapp is his speed & tackles.Your right I’m not impressed by what I see on the field most of the time.
I really don’t know what The Rams DB’s will look like next season.
Fuller was huge,but got exposed though with his Speed.These guys are only 23 so I like the upside.Evero will have them playing well.
I don’t expect Rapp to be making the play calls, & think if your SAYING how good JJ is then What WILL Staley give up to get him ? Detroit & Pleasant ?
Tyler Rapp is still young & I wait until the 3rd season to count a player out.I still look at tackles though.Be matched Jalen RAMsey & Williams with 44.I just saw also how much better the defense got when Rapp was out as well.60 tackles for Fuller.
JJ led The Rams with 105.

 

[So Ram]

Rapp couldnt be JJ3 in his dreams. And coaching has nothing to due with his flaws.

Go back to many NFL scouts, can't cover, will be injured, plays to big for his body.

Anyone saying the kid can't be coached by the guy that just had the 1 D, well.

And add if coaching is lacking, how the heck did Fuller do what he did ?

What do The Rams do ? Wade was the one who really liked JJ. Snead got Mcvay who he wanted & JJ for nothing.
Weather Tyler can hold JJ’s jock is in question still.
When healthy Rapp was playing.He actually became a starter?? I think Nick Scott is going to be The Starting FS. He was better there than JJ.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Another concern I have losing JJ:

How much did his presence help Fuller? We had an average safety in Fuller and a very good one in JJ - losing him could make both safety spots plummet to below average

Good point.

I think Nick Scott is going to be The Starting FS.

2 years, 31 games. Hard to say what we have there. Hasn’t played much.

 

[Malibu]

Here is the issue this year only with tagging him. Great player and 10m tag price not so bad, but and here is the big but. There are 2 better Safeties albeit Fast up for FA (Harris/Simmons). In other year JJ is probably the best FA safety on the market. All could get resigned and then JJ vaults up to the top of the market.

I still would try it.

 

[Allen2McVay]

If they stand pat and Johnson signs elsewhere, I am guessing Fuller moves to FS with Rapp in a more traditional SS role on first downs.

In the Nickel, Burgess and a third corner (Long or an addition / don’t expect Hill to return) come in and Rapp is more of a nickel-LB.

That would be six DBs (including Rapp) and five DL/LBs ... four rushing on most downs, with an option to blitz and a choice from the fifth DL/LB, Rapp or a DB.

This opinion is based solely on me having too much free time.

 

[Merlin]

Rapp couldnt be JJ3 in his dreams. And coaching has nothing to due with his flaws.

Go back to many NFL scouts, can't cover, will be injured, plays to big for his body.

Anyone saying the kid can't be coached by the guy that just had the 1 D, well.

And add if coaching is lacking, how the heck did Fuller do what he did ?

There's a common misconception that Rapp can't cover but he's actually solid there. Not like he's special there but he's not poor either. The problem is this defense is about zone and anticipation and decision making.

Where he struggles is coming off the top which is to say where he has to make decisions in real time out of a split look. That was why Staley drafted two safeties last year who had experience in those looks.

Rapp's run stuffing ability is something Morris should appreciate. But I do agree he might not be looked at as an answer. Not sure about Burgess either though to be fair, he got on the field last year but was forgettable.

The Rams do have talent there though at safety. No doubt about that.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Rams secondary could get tagged, one way or another

Franchise-tag window opens Tuesday, offering help in keeping the league-leading defensive backfield intact with free agency looming for cornerback Troy Hill and safety John Johnson

www.dailynews.com

Rams secondary could get tagged, one way or another

If the Rams didn’t already know the value of John Johnson and Troy Hill, they got a hint last month from that other star of the NFL’s best defensive secondary.

All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey told writers his finest season yet wouldn’t have been possible without Hill flashing versatility from the opposite corner and Johnson running the defense from the safety position.

Aware the Rams could lose Johnson and Hill to free agency, Ramsey said: “Hopefully they can figure something out.”

The next two weeks could reveal just how much the Rams value Johnson, Hill and outside linebacker Leonard Floyd, the most important of the team’s 12 unrestricted free agents.

Tuesday marks the opening of the NFL’s 14-day franchise-tag window, when a team can opt to lock in one of its free agents to a one-year contract at a league-prescribed salary and thus keep the player off the open market.

The Rams already made the biggest move of their offseason when they agreed Jan. 30 to trade quarterbacks with the Detroit Lions, giving up Jared Goff and draft picks to get the prolific Matthew Stafford.

Now, whether or how they use the franchise tag will offer clues to what else general manager Les Snead has in mind when the trading and free-agent signing period officially opens March 17 and the NFL draft rolls around April 29-May 1.

Improving on a 10-6 record and second-round playoff exit might require all of Snead’s tricks. The Rams are one of the teams that must do the most cutting to get under the salary cap, which will be lower for everybody after the league’s COVID-19-year revenue declines. The Rams don’t have a first-round draft pick for the fifth year in a row, having given up their 2020 and 2021 first-rounders in the 2019 Ramsey trade.

The sports payroll monitor Spotrac.com figures the Rams are $34.6 million over the cap right now – assuming the cap is about $185 million – the third-reddest ink in the league.

Once the NFL sets the salary cap, it also can set the salary figures for franchise tags, which bind a player to a team for one more season, and transition tags, which give teams the right to match other teams’ offers.

Overthecap.com, a font of salary-cap analysis, projects franchise-tags figures running from $24.1 million for quarterbacks down to $4.8 million for special-teams players. Perhaps most relevant to the Rams’ needs, according to Overthecap.com’s projections, a team would have to pay about $11.2 million to keep a safety for one year, $15.3 million for a cornerback and $15.6 million for a linebacker.

The Rams haven’t used a franchise or transition tag since 2018, and have used one three times in Snead’s nine years as GM. Snead, afraid of “bad karma,” said a year ago he likes to make the unilateral move only if it’s a “win-win” for team and player.

A franchise tag doesn’t make obvious sense for the Rams’ top free agents on offense – wide receiver Josh Reynolds and tight end Gerald Everett, with the team grooming replacements in 2020 draft picks Van Jefferson and Brycen Hopkins.

It might make more sense to use the franchise tag to hold onto Floyd, never mind the karma implications for a player looking for a big multi-year contract after taking a one-year deal to join the Rams and exploding for 10-1/2 sacks alongside Aaron Donald.

Tagging Johnson or Hill and re-signing the other would keep together a secondary that led the NFL in many pass-coverage stats. Johnson, 25, led the Rams in tackles and developed into a heady, personable team captain; younger safeties Taylor Rapp, Jordan Fuller and Terrell Burgess haven’t looked ready for that role. Hill, 29 and out of St. Bonaventure High in Ventura, started 16 games for the first time and ran back three turnovers for touchdowns in the last six weeks of the regular season.

Ramsey called Johnson “the most complete safety that I’ve played with,” and said of Hill, “Without him, and his versatility, him being able to play inside and outside, I wouldn’t have been able to be who I was this year.”

Something to consider as the Rams decide who to spend scarce money on, perhaps starting this week.

RAMS FREE AGENTS

Rams free agents are listed in order of the average annual value of contracts that expire March 17. Asterisks mark restricted free agents; double asterisks mark exclusive-rights free agents.

Offense: C Austin Blythe ($3.9 million), RB Malcolm Brown ($1.65 million), TE Gerald Everett ($1.5 million), QB Blake Bortles ($1.05 million), WR Josh Reynolds ($762,005), TE Johnny Mundt* ($750,000), C Coleman Shelton** ($675,000)

Defense: OLB Leonard Floyd ($10 million), CB Troy Hill ($1.6 million), OLB Derek Rivers ($826,224), DE Morgan Fox ($825,000), S John Johnson ($814,688), OLB Samson Ebukam ($753,271), CB Darious Williams* ($570,000), OLB Travin Howard** ($540,000)

Special teams: LS Jake McQuaide ($1.175 million)