ESPN’s Matt Miller: Cardinals’ Will Johnson a breakout candidate for 2026
Arizona Cardinals cornerback Will Johnson enters Year 2 as one of the team's projected starters in the secondary.
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Arizona Cardinals cornerback Will Johnson was among five second-year pros pegged for breakout seasons by ESPN’s Matt Miller.
He joins Atlanta’s Jalon Walker, Jacksonville’s Travis Hunter, Tennessee’s Cam Ward and Chicago’s Colston Loveland in the ranking.
Johnson will be Arizona’s No. 1 outside cornerback, a role he took on after returning from injury in Week 11. As long as he stays healthy, the arrow is pointing up on him becoming an A-tier cornerback.
After falling to the Cardinals in the second round because of injury concerns, Johnson found himself in the starting lineup by Week 5 after working through a groin issue early in the year. He also dealt with back, hip and knee issues, though still played 12 games as a rookie.
He finished the year with 37 tackles, a forced fumble and 10 pass defensed. Only rookie cornerback Denzel Burke had more passes defensed (11) on the team.
Johnson now enters Year 2 atop the depth chart and much more settled in as a pro.
“Last year (I was) coming in with all the draft stuff and combine and I was injured coming in,” Johnson said during last week’s organized team activities. “That versus having some experience and feeling comfortable in the defense is a whole different feeling and it feels really good this year.”
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1 Comments
Johnson looked elite outta the box till he pulled his groin which plagued him the rest of the season affecting his ability to run, till then though he was a beast n looked like a Pro Bowler it was incredible for a rookie the way he was jumping balls and seeing things before they happened, running receivers routes for them . Johnson is going to be a high end CB1, both him and Denzel Burke should take significant year 2 leaps.
With a much improved pass rush up front with Josh Sweat, a healthy BJ Ojulari n DT Walter Nolen who also was a game wrecker with a top 80.1 PFF Pass Rush grade as a rookie, DT Kaleb Proctor drafted, DT Darius Robinson taking a big leap in yr3 hopefully, athletic pass rushing DT Stills healthy, signing and bringing in DT Andrew Billings, DT Roy Lopez n DE Jonah Williams, with above rusher like edge Zaven Collins in Dl Jordan Burch hopefully breaking out in yr2 the Cardinals should have a very good pass rush it’s only going to make their pass defense that much more effective getting their hands on a lot of passes with guys like Sterling Adams and Garrett Williams also getting healthy this year n back on the field. The Cardinals have the talent to have a very good defense they just need to stay healthy. I don’t know what it was last year if it was in the water or what but we seemed to lost every critical starting player to injury but a select few .