The New York Jets desperately needed help in their secondary and they got it with the addition of Trumaine Johnson.
The New York Jets only had one veteran cornerback (Buster Skrine) signed to the roster prior to free agency kicking off. Well, now they have two. Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Jets intend to sign cornerback Trumaine Johnson.
CB Trumaine Johnson intends to sign with the NY Jets, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 13, 2018
The Jets finally reached into the back of their coin purse to make a big-ticket item purchase. There are three premiums in football: quarterback, guys who can rush the quarterback, and of course cornerbacks.
The Jets were missing all three of those premiums and now they have just pushed the chips to the middle of the table for the top cornerback on the market in Trumaine Johnson.
The #Jets are expected to sign CB Trumaine Johnson to a deal worth roughly $15M per year, source said.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 13, 2018
According to initial reports from NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport, the Jets have signed Johnson to a $15 million per season deal. That would make Johnson the highest paid cornerback in all of football. But you often get what you pay for and the Jets paid for a perfect scheme fit for what Todd Bowles likes to do.
Johnson is lanky (6-foot-2 with 33 1/4 wingspan) and is a physical press corner that immediately steps in as the Jets No. 1 corner on the team.
With the amount of cap space the Jets have, this doesn’t preclude them from bringing back free agent Morris Claiborne. Or even getting another top flight corner prospect who is still available. You can never have enough good corners on the team.
The biggest beneficiary of this is a tie between the Jets dynamic duo at safety in Jamal Adams and Marcus Maye and of course the Jets anemic pass rush. If Johnson can hold up a receiver for just a second or two longer than his predecessors, that could be the difference between a sack and a touchdown.
While the young safeties of the Jets can now be more aggressive jumping on routes and making plays now that they can trust that Johnson can do his job properly.
General manager Mike Maccagnan is still a man of his word ‘technically’. He said that the green and white would be one of the most aggressive teams on the opening day of free agency. While that doesn’t officially start until tomorrow, the recent trends and signings suggest this is only the tip of the iceberg.
