The Buffalo Bills signed a veteran corner coming off an injury to start across from Tre’Davious White for the 2018 season. That veteran decided to retire halfway through his first game with the Bills, leaving a void on the depth chart that eventually turned into a blessing, as his absence allowed for a young player to emerge as a viable second corner by season’s end.
This year, the Bills have once again signed a veteran corner coming off of an injury. This time, that corner is quite a bit younger, and hopefully he’ll last more than 30 minutes of game action. In today’s edition of “90 players in 90 days,” we profile Buffalo’s newest veteran corner.
Name: Kevin Johnson
Number: 36
Position: CB
Height/Weight: 6’ 185 lbs.
Age: 26 (27 on 8/5/19)
Experience/Draft: Selected in the first round (16 overall) by the Houston Texans in the 2015 NFL Draft
College: Wake Forest
Acquired: Signed a one-year contract on 3/11/19
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Johnson signed a one-year deal with Buffalo after the Texans released him in early March. Since he was released, Buffalo was able to sign him prior to the official opening of the unrestricted-free-agent period. The contract is worth a total of $3 million with bonuses, and it includes a $400,000 signing bonus. If Buffalo cuts Johnson before the start of the season, that signing bonus will be his dead-cap number. If Johnson remains on the roster for Week 1, his $2 million base salary becomes guaranteed. His cap hit for the 2019 season is $2,718,750.
2018 Recap: Johnson only made one start in 2018 before he suffered a concussion. In that game against the New England Patriots, he made four tackles. The Texans placed him on injured reserve on September 12. It was the third consecutive year that Johnson had missed time due to injury, as he broke his foot in 2016 and sprained his MCL in 2017. Johnson suffered two concussions within a month last year, leaving a preseason game on August 18 due to a concussion before suffering a second one on September 9.
Positional outlook: Johnson is right in the mix for a starting job this season. Tre’Davious White is the clear number-one corner, but Johnson will compete with incumbent starter Levi Wallace and fellow free agent signee E.J. Gaines for the number-two job. Taron Johnson, Cam Lewis, Ryan Lewis, Lafayette Pitts, and Denzel Rice round out the depth chart.
2019 Offseason: Johnson has participated in all offseason activities to date. Thus far, his play has garnered rave reviews, as Johnson has consistently run with the top group across from White. ESPN named him Buffalo’s “surprise standout” of camp so far.
2019 Season outlook: Johnson’s role is one to watch through training camp and the preseason. Corner is one of those positions where a team can never have too many of them, so I don’t believe that the team will cut him if Gaines or Wallace beats him for the starting CB2 job. If the Bills were tight to the salary cap, perhaps that would be different, but since the team has a projected $22.4 million in cap space at present, there’s no need to release him based on his salary. Especially given his injury history and Gaines’s injury history, having both seems like a good hedge, since it’s almost a given that they’ll each miss time. At best, Johnson will be Buffalo’s starting second corner. At worst, he profiles as a phenomenal depth player who should be among the top five corners when the team finalizes its 53-man roster.