Why didn't the Chiefs select Jermaine Johnson?

[Direckshun]

Because of character concerns, apparently:

In the days prior to the 2022 NFL Draft, we reported in the Hot Press that there were some makeup concerns with Johnson and some team sources even felt that Johnson's football character was worse than Kayvon Thibodeaux. The character issue hurt Johnson with some teams, according to sources. On top of that, some sources felt Johnson was slightly overrated by the media and his pass rush was not at an elite level for translating to the NFL.

"I wasn't a fan of the player and didn't see him as a 'top rusher' personally," said an NFC director of players personnel. "I believe his personality was a concern for a lot of people - not necessarily off-field concern, but he's not a liked guy in the locker room."

A different NFC director of player personnel said Johnson was viewed as a high-maintenance guy for the coaches to deal with and keep focused. Multiple sources said they thought Johnson's skill set could make him a solid rusher, but they not see him as a high first-round talent in that regard.

[Chiefnj2]

Time will tell. I liked Johnson over Karlaftis prior to the draft and I'm not changing my mind just because KC did things differently. I value DE over CB since the league wants passing yards and has hamstrung corners.

[staylor26]

It’s pretty simple.

They had a 1st round grade on McDuffie.

They didn’t on Karlaftis and Johnson.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

Chiefs are getting nastier. Mahomes era has the perception that they were soft. Kind of like Jordan during the Bad Boys run. Chiefs are taking that next step.

Just remember that this was the reputation that Clark and Mathieu brought with them.

None of it matters if you don't back it up.

It's really a secondary consideration.

Be a good football player. Be consistent. Be reliable. Play up to your talent level and the capital (draft or cap) expended on you.

The rest is icing on the cake. And while one can argue that a player is more likely to do all those things if he 'loves the game' or is a grinder type - eh, I think there are as many examples to the contrary. Lots of guys have loved football that weren't very good at it. A lot of GREAT players played the game because it was better than selling cars.

I just don't put a hell of a lot of stock in it.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by staylor26

It’s pretty simple.

They had a 1st round grade on McDuffie.

They didn’t on Karlaftis and Johnson.

I think this is probably right.

I think they probably had Karlaftis and Johnson ranked similarly as fringe 1st/early 2nd round guys. They had McDuffie as a 1st round guy.

Had Johnson fallen to 30 I'm sure the Chiefs would've strongly considered him. Maybe even ahead of Karlaftis (maybe not; hard to know how much of the after-pick stuff is bullshit fluff).

But the easy and obvious answer is the Chiefs simply graded McDuffie higher than Johnson. And I suspect they weren't even in a minority there - as that random scout said "Johnson was considered more highly among the media than he was in the industry..."

I think a lot of the talk about Johnson sliding was draft talking heads miscalculating more than anything. When I said every year there's a guy that gets talked up by front offices to the media as a smokescreen I cited Moore; turns out it easily could have been Johnson this year.

Guys who start 'rising' for no obvious reason should make you question if they're actually rising or if they're just getting tossed out there as red meat during draft season.

[Bump]

I ended up watching some of his highlight videos, not aware of character issues at the time, and I wasn't thaat impressed. He looked kinda like he moves slow and just didn't see what the hype was about. Glad we got what we got. McDuffie is gonna be awesome

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I think this is probably right.

I think they probably had Karlaftis and Johnson ranked similarly as fringe 1st/early 2nd round guys. They had McDuffie as a 1st round guy.

Had Johnson fallen to 30 I'm sure the Chiefs would've strongly considered him. Maybe even ahead of Karlaftis (maybe not; hard to know how much of the after-pick stuff is bullshit fluff).

But the easy and obvious answer is the Chiefs simply graded McDuffie higher than Johnson. And I suspect they weren't even in a minority there - as that random scout said "Johnson was considered more highly among the media than he was in the industry..."

I think a lot of the talk about Johnson sliding was draft talking heads miscalculating more than anything. When I said every year there's a guy that gets talked up by front offices to the media as a smokescreen I cited Moore; turns out it easily could have been Johnson this year.

Guys who start 'rising' for no obvious reason should make you question if they're actually rising or if they're just getting tossed out there as red meat during draft season.

I don't think they would've taken Johnson.

I think the football character thing is not overblown at all here.

So much of defense is WANT TO, and I know I've said it a thousand times, and said it so much last season that Clay starting calling me names-

But that defense didn't have a lot of WANT TO until Ingram came on board, and even then the effort wilted down the stretch.

A lot of half-assed effort.

If there were questions about Johnson's motor, he was off Veach's board. It's pretty clear that along with a talent rebuild there is a culture rebuild happening on this defense. The new kids all want to run through walls and hit people. Spags is going to have fun with these guys.

[RunKC]

Joshnson apparently isn’t as hard of a worker. In Andy’s interview he said they spoke with Purdue’s coach and he said Karlaftis studies the game like a QB. That’s how much work he puts into it.

[Chris Meck]

high floor doesn't always mean 'low ceiling'.

We took a bunch of guys with high athletic scores, production in college, and excellent work ethics.

That's a pretty high probability that they become plus players, barring injury.

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by staylor26

It’s pretty simple.

They had a 1st round grade on McDuffie.

They didn’t on Karlaftis and Johnson.

I’m not convinced they didn’t have a first round grade on Karlaftis, but you may be right.

I just think Karlaftis isn’t scheme diverse and would only be drafted by a 4-3 team that had a need for a strong side DE. I think Veach gambled by watching him fall knowing the opposing teams very well and knew he would fall to them.

Spags sounded thrilled and said he was his top DE in the draft. To me, that sounds like they very well may have had a first round grade on him. When Veach said he had 16-18 players with a first round grade, I’m guessing that Karlaftis fell into that 17/18 range of those guys and Veach got 2 guys he had first round grades on.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I think this is probably right.

I think they probably had Karlaftis and Johnson ranked similarly as fringe 1st/early 2nd round guys. They had McDuffie as a 1st round guy.

Had Johnson fallen to 30 I'm sure the Chiefs would've strongly considered him. Maybe even ahead of Karlaftis (maybe not; hard to know how much of the after-pick stuff is bullshit fluff).

But the easy and obvious answer is the Chiefs simply graded McDuffie higher than Johnson. And I suspect they weren't even in a minority there - as that random scout said "Johnson was considered more highly among the media than he was in the industry..."

I think a lot of the talk about Johnson sliding was draft talking heads miscalculating more than anything. When I said every year there's a guy that gets talked up by front offices to the media as a smokescreen I cited Moore; turns out it easily could have been Johnson this year.

Guys who start 'rising' for no obvious reason should make you question if they're actually rising or if they're just getting tossed out there as red meat during draft season.

The way Spags was talking to Karlaftis he said out of all the players in the country Karlaftis was his number one choice. Also you could tell how excited Spags was in getting him and I never thought he got that excited about anything. Spags was truly excited to get Karlaftis. So that gets me pretty stoked about him.

Oh to note that the Chiefs never even brought in McDuffie for a work out because they simply thought he would be gone and after the first two top rated CB got taken #2&#3 they really didn't think they had a shot but I think a run on WRs and some other possessions went off the board and Vlanch made a move with NE and I called it before draft that NE would be a trade partner and indeed they were. So the draft is a real lottery ticket and gamble and risk. First round grades turn out to be bust all the time and late rounds turn out to be All Pro you just never know until a few seasons into their rookie contract.

[JohnnyHammersticks]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

...No Drake Jackson at 62 still hurts though.

Travis Jones for me.

That being said, I trust in Veach.

But man...

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

The way Spags was talking to Karlaftis he said out of all the players in the country Karlaftis was his number one choice. Also you could tell how excited Spags was in getting him and I never thought he got that excited about anything. Spags was truly excited to get Karlaftis. So that gets me pretty stoked about him.

.

Well, I don't know about NUMBER ONE CHOICE, as I'd say Karlaftis is kind of a middle class man's Hutchinson. Not a poor man's, but a middle class man's.

But number one choice that was a possibility to actually draft? Yeah, I'll buy that.

[JPH83]

Originally Posted by JohnnyHammersticks

Travis Jones for me.

That being said, I trust in Veach.

But man...

Yep that was the pick I wanted.

[La0laEsMia]

Wasn't Johnson a senior bowl riser? the guy was never really considered a premium player until after then. That and the fact that he's 23 or 24 years old going up against tackles who are 3 to 4+ years younger than him in some cases is something to consider. Karlaftis just turned a 21 a few weeks ago, is used to doubleteams because he was the best player on their front 7 and I just see a much higher ceiling with him than Johnson. I think he went about where he should. Top 10 or 15 was obviously too high for him.

[kccrow]

I think any talk about Johnson's motor on the field is a lot of hyperbole and little else. If you watched him play there was little evidence of it, unlike a guy like Sam Williams.

As for off-the-field/lockerroom type of stuff, yeah I could understand there being issues there potentially. There may be rumors, and they may be well-founded, but the people that know for sure aren't going to talk about it candidly

Now, if there's an argument to make between Karlaftis and Johnson and who is the better prospect there are definitive arguments both ways. Johnson appeared more complete while Karlaftis appeared to be the better pass rusher. Karlaftis played faster off the snap. How it will all turn out in the pros is an unknown. They were close in my eyes but I did give the nod to Johnson due to his ability against the run. That said, it is a passing game now and affecting the QB is priority one.

I'd call Veach lucky as shit that either fell to 30.