CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Browns made John Johnson III an offer he couldn’t refuse.
And it wasn’t the one that would’ve paid him the most either.
When players say it isn’t about the money, more times than not, it is. But not this time for Johnson.
“I felt like it was an opportunity of a lifetime, coming to a situation that things are moving in the right direction,” Johnson said Friday during his Zoom introductory press conference. “That is rare in this business. It is really a business that it is rare that people care about you, people actually appreciate you and people want to do things the right way. This city as a whole, let alone the organization, it drips that. It drips that.
“I just felt it had a young group, a young secondary, a great defense. We can get a rush on the quarterback. I am like, ‘It will be a perfect fit to get out here to Cleveland.’ It was a no-brainer.”
The former Los Angeles Ram received a three-year deal worth $33.75 million, including $24 million in guarantees.
Even though he gave a discount to come to Cleveland and join a team coming off its best season in 26 years, he is already focused on making sure the Browns get their monies worth from him.
“With great power comes great responsibility,” Johnson said. “I have to come right in and get to work. Things that I was doing at the Rams, I can’t do that here. I have to be an even truer professional. People speak that I am a true professional, but I have to ramp things up a little bit. They invested in me so I have to give them back what they invested in me.
“I am just looking forward to it. I am looking forward to being the same person every day, I am looking forward to coming to work with a positive attitude rubbing off on people and most importantly, winning. That is the goal. That is why they brought me in – to establish a great defense, which we have the foundation to do it, but a guy like me, I feel wholeheartedly that we can take the next step.”
Johnson, who passed his physical and signed his contract Friday, sees a lot of the defense he left behind in the one he's about to join.
“It is a young, vibrant group, guys who can play, guys who can run, great athletes and versatile guys,” Johnson said. “You hear about Grant Delpit and Ronnie Harrison. We all are similar body types and similar skillsets. Just being out there together, hopefully, we can all be on the field at the same time giving quarterbacks headaches and just moving all around and just doing different things from a disguise standpoint. It is just something that I am looking forward to. Then you look at the corner position, Greedy Williams, hopefully, we can get him back ASAP. He is a great long guy who can run. Denzel [Ward], his work speaks for itself.
“You talk about coming from the No. 1 defense, you have Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey. I see Denzel Ward and Myles Garrett as the same thing. What I see right now is just a lot of guys who can play football, who love to football and who have played great football. I just want to come in and be a leader and just give them tips that I have learned over my career and things that I saw even last year that got us to such a great defense, a top-ranked defense. I just want to be a guy that people can just feel my vibe and it will rub off on people.”
Johnson didn't come alone, either.
Cleveland also added Rams cornerback Troy Hill to help in the secondary, and they did it without a lengthy recruiting pitch from Johnson.
“We can meet everyone together,” Johnson said. “I know how he plays, and he knows how I play. It will be fun.”
The goal is to bring what made the Rams the No. 1 team defending the pass so good to the shores of Lake Erie.
“I think what made us so good is that we did the little things right and with discipline,” Johnson said. “I was talking to coach Joe Woods and [defensive backs coach] Jeff [Howard], and we were talking about tackling and killing blocks. Those are small things that go unnoticed, but we did them really, really well and with really, really great discipline. We really honed in on those small things all of the time. We did not really have too many times where guys would bust a coverage, were not running to the ball or were not giving an effort. The small things ended up being huge things in the end.”
