STrib: Gophers' Tyler Johnson seeking speed entering NFL draft

BleedGopher

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per Megan:

Englebert said speed can improve through weight room work. But the biggest leaps an elite athlete can make in the few months between the end of the college football season and the NFL draft has to do more with refining mechanics than actually gaining more speed.

“To get them a tenth faster, two-tenths faster of true speed in four to six weeks, for people that say they can do that, nine times out of 10, they’re full of it,” Englebert said. “… If I’m going to improve someone’s 40 time by a tenth of a second in a month … it’s going to be [through] mastering the start because you can lose a tenth, gain a tenth, in your 40-yard dash just by having the right technique.”

Scouts will never know for sure Johnson’s true 40 time since they couldn’t clock it in person. But there is something millions of people have seen Johnson do live — score on the field.

Johnson set program records through four years with the Gophers, amassing 3,305 receiving yards and 33 receiving touchdowns. He also bested his own single-season marks in those categories set his junior year, ending 2019 with 1,318 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Gophers receivers coach Matt Simon said those stats alone prove Johnson has something special, especially because he played quarterback in high school, only learning receiver in college.


Go Gophers!!
 

If there's nobody here to measure it I can run a 4.1 40... trust me!

I believe his strategy of not running at the combine to try to shave a tenth or two by pro day, but now they don't have any sort of formal measurement. I don't know what he could do to realistically convince people now.

Again, I question how significant 40 time really is for receivers (to an extent), but now there is nothing for those that are concerned about it to go off of. I hope that decision doesn't come back to bite him too bad in the draft.
 

This will cost Tyler some money because he will most likely slide in a deep WR draft. Whoever does take him will probably get a real steal because we all know what he can do when he gets the ball.
 

This will cost Tyler some money because he will most likely slide in a deep WR draft. Whoever does take him will probably get a real steal because we all know what he can do when he gets the ball.
Another way to look at it is it's better to have teams not know how fast or slow you are, then to run a really bad 40 and have them know for sure.

Just my glass 1/2 full thought. I have no idea if that's how teams will actually think.
 

And to think we criticized Baun for a diluted sample...
 





5-7th rounder
If he slides to the 5th round he would be a steal. I think he is a value pick in the 4th round but if he slides later than that you have to take him. Antoine Winfield looks like a 2nd rounder - I would not let him slide further than that because he is going to be a very good NFL player.
 



Maybe it's the lack of anything better to do, but I've been looking at a lot of mock drafts (and I can see why people mock them) and Johnson is all over the place. He's been in either the third or fourth round in most of the 7-round mock drafts I've seen but as low as the 6th. Winfield has consistently been in the 2nd or 3rd. Most of the 7-round mock drafts have either Coughlin or Martin in them and some have both with selection as high as the 6th round.

Predicting drafts has become much trickier with football becoming more specialized with bigger active rosters. A guy with one superb skill who would have never been drafted in an earlier epoch gets drafted--and often quite high--in today's game.
 

It's all about scheme. If a team needs a 4.2 burner to run deep fly routes, then Johnson is not the guy they should draft.

But if a team needs a guy who can go over the middle, run the inside slant, or run deeper intermediate routes as part of a combo pattern, Johnson is a perfect fit. Put Johnson in the slot next to a real burner at WR and he will catch a ton of balls.

NFL teams love to claim they don't draft for need - that they take the "best athlete available." That's BS. teams draft for need all the time.

if Johnson lands with the right team in the right scheme, he can have a long and lucrative NFL career. If - for some reason - he lands with the wrong team in the wrong scheme, it becomes a lot more challenging.
 

He needs a QB that emphasizes getting the ball out quickly, like Brady or Brees. Receivers with similar skill sets to Tyler have had a lot of success with those two.
 




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