Trumaine Johnson: Latest News, Rumors and Speculation on Free-Agent CB

Los Angeles Rams general manager Les Snead said new defensive coordinator Wade Phillips will play a large part in deciding whether free-agent cornerback Trumaine Johnson will return in 2017. 

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Snead Says Phillips Will Help Decide Johnson's Future

Sunday, Jan. 29

Snead addressed the situation in an interview with Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times:

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That will be a big decision. Wade, like a lot of [defensive coordinators], likes good players on the outside. Trumaine fits that category. … Trumaine is a larger guy with good ball skills and all things like that. Is it a square in a square, a triangle in a triangle or more a rectangle in a square?  … That's probably one of the top priorities when Wade walks in the door because, obviously, the magnitude of what his contract will look like and the magnitude of what another franchise tag looks like and everything in between.

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Johnson, 27, played the 2016 season under the franchise tag. He recorded 57 tackles and one interception, setting a career low in the latter category.

Pro Football Focus ranked Johnson 26th among cornerbacks, grading him as solid in coverage but deficient in run defense. He missed two games due to injury—his third straight year failing to play a full season—but was one of a few general bright spots in a 4-12 season for the Rams.

Los Angeles retooled its coaching staff already this offseason, hiring 31-year-old Sean McVay as its head coach. McVay installed Phillips, one of the NFL's foremost and long-running defensive experts, as his defensive coordinator. Phillips spent the last two seasons running the Denver Broncos defense, which ranked first in Football Outsiders' metrics in both campaigns.

The Rams will likely look to retain Johnson after allowing Janoris Jenkins to leave last offseason. Even if Johnson did not produce at a superstar level in 2016, Snead would be hard-pressed to explain allowing two young, good cornerbacks to bolt in consecutive offseasons.

Paying Johnson at a franchise-tag level would be a little hard to swallow for a second straight year; it would cost the Rams at least $16.7 million (120 percent of his 2016 salary). But both sides would probably prefer to secure a long-term deal after going through the franchise-tag song and dance last season.