Studious Packers Rookie Ready for Second NFL Start

Green Bay Packers rookie safety Anthony Johnson is anticipating making his second NFL start on Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers.

“I will be excited and prepared,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing is keep preparing all the way up until the game.”

When Rudy Ford missed the game against the Rams two weeks ago, Johnson – with eight snaps on defense under his belt at the time – started and snared his first career interception. This week, Ford missed all three practices and is doubtful.

“I was really proud of Anthony, the way he went out there,” position coach Ryan Downard said. “It wasn’t surprising to me. There’s an unknown factor with rookies, of course, but he did a great job doing his job. Like I always talk about, plusing on the grade sheet.

“His play style was good and he was rewarded with that interception; great play by Ja[ire Alexander]. So, it was awesome to see all his work that he’s put in from the spring. He put so much in. I can’t say enough say enough things about the time he spends in this building, writing in that darned notebook.”

Yes, that darned notebook. Johnson’s burned through two of them.

“You never know what in that meeting could be the little nugget that helps you make the play,” Johnson said. “There’s a lot of things that the coaches are saying that’s useful; none of it’s wasted.”

Especially for someone going through some on-the-job training.

Johnson was a four-year starter at Iowa State. He started 41 consecutive games at cornerback spanning the end of the 2018 season through the 2021 season. Johnson was ready to go to the NFL but stuck around at the urging of Cyclones coach Matt Campbell, who told Johnson he’d have a better chance at making it in the NFL at safety.

So, Johnson returned for the 2022 season and started 12 games at new position, which gave him some background for Downard to build upon.

“You gain some of that wisdom but some of that is just lack of experience,” Downard said. “There’s some things that I was very particular about making sure that I break it down to the bare minimum to explain to him. Really, that was one of my goals going into this season with all of the rookies because I think there’s some Football 101 that gets glossed over that sometimes coaches assume are being taught at certain colleges.

“But every guy comes from a different background. When you’re speaking to rookies, you can’t assume they know anything. You’ve got to ask questions and if they can’t answer it, they can’t feel embarrassed to say I don’t know what that means.”

That means film sessions that aren’t totally focused on his performance in the games or at practice or in getting ready for the next opponent.

“We try to take some extra time with the younger guys,” Downard said, “to sit them down and, ‘Let’s throw this game on and instead of watching the cut-up and instead of watching X, Y or Z in our normal prep, let’s just watch this game and let’s talk about things that we can see and gather that the offense is giving you for free.’ I think that’s helped him. You’d have to ask him.”

We did. What is he looking for?

“The big picture,” he said. “I’m looking for tendencies, offensive tells. When they put this guy here, what does he do? When the back and the tight end are matched this way, what do they do? Stuff like that, little nuggets that are out there but you’ve got to go search and go find them.”

With Darnell Savage set to spend a fourth game on injured reserve, Johnson and Jonathan Owens are expected to get the starting nod against a Chargers offense that ranks seventh in points and eight in passing. They are led by the premier tandem of quarterback Justin Herbert and receiver Keenan Allen.

“It’ll be exciting to be able to go out there and compete on the same field as those guys,” Johnson said. “That’ll be good.”