Green Bay Packers: 3 XFL Free Agents to Target

Anthony Johnson

Fortunately, there is a couple of all-snap games of his college film available so I was able to watch a bit of his full tape and really dig into what type of player he is and what he could bring to this team. What I saw was a guy with a lot of great tools.

What I see in his college film is a legitimate quick-twitch defensive lineman who can get into backfields in a blink and use his power to push offensive lineman deep into their own backfield and blow up plays. Obviously, he’s a guy with some flaws, he has to be or he would’ve gotten drafted, but I really think that his college film shows a lot more positives than negatives.

As a defensive tackle in the Packers’ 3-4 scheme, he would probably be a bit undersized. He does have a pretty lean build as he is listed at 6’3″ 294 on College Football Reference and an even slimmer 275 pounds on Pro Football Reference from his short stints with four different teams over the course of three years.

However, he may have beefed up a bit as the XFL website has him at 308 pounds, easily big enough to play that 3-4 end spot, considering Green Bay Packers’ linemen Tyler Lancaster and Dean Lowry weigh in at 313 and 296 pounds, respectively.

There is a legitimate reason to be excited about Johnson as a prospect, even at 27 years old. In high school, he broke the Louisiana state sack record with 67.5 sacks in four years. He made 22 tackles for loss in his three years at LSU, facing tough competition in the SEC, and it wasn’t even until his second year that he saw consistent playing time.

https://twitter.com/xfl2020/status/1236748456062062592

But his career may have derailed when he declared for the draft after his junior year but he wasn’t drafted, probably due to his poor combine performance. His 40-yard dash, vertical jump, bench press reps, and broad jump all would have been bottom three in this year’s combine and his 20-yard shuttle and three-cone drill weren’t much better as they would’ve been sixth and seventh-worst respectively.

Ever since, he has been bouncing around the NFL, CFL, and now XFL, looking for another chance. With the Green Bay Packers need for defensive line help and the promise of someone who has shown production and the ability to defeat run blocks and make things difficult for an offense by pushing them back, it could be time for Johnson to finally find a home in Green Bay.