While I'm gushing about Tyler Johnson, I want to focus a bit more on his route tempo. Here are four plays:
These four plays show Johnson varying his route tempo. Those variances show just how advanced he is in terms of his route running and football IQ. In the first play, you see a slower tempo off the LOS. This makes sense. It's a play-action passing play with an extra blocker, and Auburn isn't blitzing. Johnson comes off the line slower and throws a little shoulder fake in at the top of his route (to get the DB to move just a little in the wrong direction). By doing so, he gives his QB a large window between the DB covering him and the LB sucked up on the PA fake in which to throw. If he had come off the LOS with a less patient cadence, he would have run himself out of the window before the end of the PA fake.
In the second play, you see Auburn bringing a heavy blitz. You also see Johnson coming off the LOS with a lot more urgency. He knows he has to move quickly to get to the hole in the coverage because his QB is going to have a blitzer in his face. In the third play, Johnson recognizes that he has a one on one against a mismatch and is running a long-developing route (deep double move). He again comes off the LOS with urgency because he knows there is a mismatch to exploit and needs to move quickly in case there's pressure on his QB.
Finally, on the fourth play, we see Johnson come off the LOS with a slower tempo again. It's a PA fake with a lot of congestion in the middle of the field. He needs to give his QB a window coming off the fake. (Well, to be technical, it's an RPO.) Watch him leverage his stem outside to get the CB moving in the wrong direction and then cut back inside at just the right moment to be in a massive window when his QB is ready to throw. If he doesn't leverage this route properly and comes off the LOS with more urgency, he would have run himself into the congestion and prevented Morgan from having a window.
What this shows clearly to me is that Johnson has a high-level understanding of the big picture of what the offense is trying to do and is able to read defenses. Through his route running and route tempo, he's creating windows for his QB. He's also adapting his route based on what his offense is doing, what the defense is showing, and the potential match-up advantages he spots. Johnson isn't just a quick player who runs great routes. He has a high football IQ and a very advanced understanding of how to beat defenses.
