Jacksonville Jaguars Midseason Rookie Recap: Storm Johnson
By Daniel Lago
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Heading into their bye week after a brutal loss in London, the Jacksonville Jaguars are a little more than halfway through the 2014 NFL regular season. The bye week also means it’s time to step back and briefly evaluate how some of the players have performed so far. The second year into a massive rebuild, the most interesting players to look at of course are the young guys who should eventually be the foundation for this team.
Over the course of the week, we’ll be taking a look at all of the rookies playing roles for the Jaguars right now. We’ll start with the undrafted guys and work our way down all the way to the first round pick.
Let’s take a look at the guy who shared the backfield with our franchise quarterback over at UCF – 7th round running back Storm Johnson.
After signing Toby Gerhart in free agency this offseason, the Jaguars were expected to pound the veteran back and use him as the primary rusher in this offense. With that in mind, very little was expected out of Johnson when he was taken in the 7th round. Johnson fell mostly due to concerns with ball security and his inexperience pass blocking. Still, he showed quite a bit of promise as a rusher at UCF, enough so that David Caldwell felt comfortable using a draft pick on him.
After some nagging injuries held him back early in the season, Johnson cracked the lineup thanks to Gerhart’s injury and lack of productivity. Here are his stats so far:
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Johnson hasn’t had a lot of work this season, but he hasn’t really excelled in his limited snaps. He’s been pushed down the depth chart due to the return of Gerhart, but he’s still has a shot at cracking the rotation before the end of the season. Before Denard Robinson exploded onto the scene 4 weeks ago, Johnson looked like the most fluid and natural runner on the team. Gerhart has been a massive disappointment, and he could lose his spot in the rotation entirely if he doesn’t start to produce.
Johnson was drafted in the 7th round and walked into a crowded backfield. He did a good job working his way back from injury and getting some playing time, and that’s all you can really expect from him for now. Another offseason to learn the offense and work on his ability to pick up the blitz should do wonders for him.