Las Vegas Raiders: Grading Year 2 of the 2019 NFL Draft class
By Nico Di Fede
Isaiah Johnson – CB
Isaiah Johnson was picked in the fourth round and has yet to see much action in his two seasons with the Silver and Black. Johnson saw playing time in five games during his rookie year, but most of it was on special teams.
This past season, Johnson stepped onto the field for 14 of the 16 games, but Weeks 9 and 12 are the only ones he played anywhere close to 50% of the snaps. In Week 9, he played 63% of the snaps against the Los Angeles Chargers and recorded two deflections.
In Week 12 he played 77% of the snaps which is the most in his career.
Johnson didn’t play enough to grade his play on the season, but that doesn’t mean the pick itself cannot be judged after two seasons. The big corner was raw coming out of college but was considered a high potential/high ceiling prospect.
The pick itself was seen as a good value at the time of the draft. In my scouting report on Isaiah Johnson, I noted that his press-man skills were there but that he needed a lot of work in zone coverage.
Former defensive coordinator Paul Guenther employed a lot of cover-3 zone looks and based on the fact that he hasn’t touched the field much despite struggles in the secondary shows that the claims of him being raw and needing a lot of polish were true.
2020 Performance Grade: N/A
Pick: C+