It was an off season workout and the Birds wide receivers were working on this triple-move route, that DeSean Jackson has made a part of his repertoire. It’s called a double-post route and ultra-speed is a prerequisite. As I stood there and watched, I saw two Eagles wide receivers, who ran the route well, Jackson and Damaris Johnson. It was hard for me to decide who ran it best, Jackson or Johnson this free agent whom nobody knew anything about.
I’m predicting right now, that Johnson is going to be a big part of the Eagles offense. It’s going to make the Eagles passing offense much better and much more explosive. Hopefully this young man can deal with the big NFL hits and stay healthy.
Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg are two of the NFL’s best game planners. Many times they manufacture yardage and production for the Eagles offense with or without major talent. If you give them two players that are nearly impossible to cover one-on-one, it’s going to mean trouble for opposing NFL defenses. The speed and quickness of Jackson and Johnson will present a major problem.
I have seen Reid and Mornhinweg salivating as they start tinkering with packages with Johnson in it. Teams are going to be focused on defending Jackson’s speed when they realize they don’t have anybody who can cover Johnson one-on-one. There wasn’t a cornerback on the Eagles roster who was able to cover the little guy with any consistency during OTA’s and training camp. Even Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who is their best cover corner, couldn’t handle Johnson’s quickness.
Let’s go back to that double route session I was talking to you about. The receiver heads straight downfield and makes an inside cut to the post. He takes four or five steps toward the post at full speed, then cuts back outside like he’s running a post corner. The cornerback is sure he knows what the route is now, but to his shock the wide receiver sells him on the impression that he’s going to the corner, then comes back to the post.
It’s an ankle breaker. If you don’t believe it then go ask Keenan Lewis of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who is currently their starting right cornerback. He was trying to cover Johnson when the wide receiver ran the double post route against him.
Lewis fell on the ground on the route and Johnson was so open that quarterback Nick Foles was able to take two seconds to find him after escaping a pass rush, then he underthrew the ball and Lewis still couldn’t recover to make the play. It was a 70-yard touchdown play and the rest of the NFL had been introduced to Damaris Johnson.
All I could do was smile when I saw the ultra-fast and quick free agent run the route during the OTA’s. I could tell this was going to be an ankle breaker. This little dude is one of the quickest players, I’ve ever seen. Reid and Morningweg have got to be praying that he stays healthy because they are going to frustrate defenses by adding him to the bevy of weapons they already have.
Former Eagles wide receiver great, Mike Quick used to run the post corner against cornerbacks and break their ankles. The key to the route was how well the wide receiver sold the post route. If he hits the accelerator to the post and gets the cornerback to believe he’s running as hard as he can and committed to beating him on the post route, the cornerback will swallow the bait.
The cornerback swallows the bait when he raises his center of gravity up, in order to run full speed to the post. A player drops his center of gravity when he’s going to change direction, but raises it in order to run at full speed.
Of course he sells the post, then goes back to the corner on the post corner route. On the double-post route, the wide receiver sells the post, then he sells the corner and then comes back to the post. It’s a tough route to cover, if the wide receiver is fast enough to run it quickly enough in order to give the quarterback time to get the throw off.
That little bitty rookie wide receiver gets in and out of his cuts quicker than any receiver on the Eagles roster, maybe quicker than any receiver in the league. Still I look at how small he is and wonder whether he can stay healthy or not.
Did I mention that Johnson is going to be trouble for opposing teams on punt returns as well?
More speed on the outside
great article, makes you wonder how the hell this guy went undrafted
Sounds like the Eagles’ version of Wes Welker. Another good, detailed article. Thanks G.
Love it.
BUST
How can you ES enjoy life with so much negativity and contentiousness?!
Off the field issues Jake, (Specifically for Credit Card Theft and Fraud) He was suspended from the Tulsa College Program halfway during his Junior Season and hasn’t played Organized Football since.. It’s kind of amazing that he kept up his football skills at such a high level not playing anywhere during this time..
Whats up Big Paulman!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEY KEEP ERASING MY COMMENTS. i’M SORRY i HAVEN’T BEEN ABLE TO COMMUNICATE BROTHER.
Whats up Big Paulman!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEY KEEP ERASING MY COMMENTS. i’M SORRY
your enthusiasm has me juiced Gary Cobb!!!
Been high on the kid since he was signed and got a chance to watch all of the YouTube footage including some personal interviews prior to the Hawaii Bowl.
All I’ve wondered throughout this offseason was whether the skill set he exhibited in college would translate in an NFL game. So far so good. I agree with Marty that his biggest challenge will be consistency. Add to that challenge the QB’s ability to get him the ball and for Andy and Marty to find ways to get the ball in his hands.
The rookie crop this year gives me many reasons to be excited. I find it totally laughable that so many writers, fans and idiotic radio personalities went off the deep end over their one and only preseason game. A little annoying but absolutely ridiculous. One preseason game and in the case of the 1st team offense running only six plays, and find it acceptable to draw such fantastically definitive conclusions from such a tiny sample size is downright irresponsible at best and delusional at worst.
There really is no need to make predictions as far as I’m concerned. There isn’t enough data to go on yet without immediately subjecting yourself to being categorized within the two dominant schools of thought when it comes to the Eagles; they stink or they’re winning the Super Bowl. But talking about what actually happens on the field sans the overreaching and often incorrect mythos of the Eagles and their players is always fair game to me. For example, when I see Demetress Bell run a wide zone and he looks like he’s running in sand, that should absolutely be talked about. Or when I see Demeco Ryans make at least two legitimate assisted tackles in the Steelers game but not get credit for them by the statistician I’m going to point that out too. FYI Follow @eaglejake on Twitter for cut up videos of Eagle players to get another more focused look on how certain guys did in the first preseason game.
The mythos I referred to in Eagles World (and the NFL for that matter) consists of those beliefs held by fans, media and idiotic radio personalities that simply aren’t true. Despite irrefutable video evidence to the contrary, these beliefs take root, multiply and spread like an unwanted weed. Just think how many times it was declared last year that the season was over? 3? 4? More? Yet the very next week it was a must win game. I mean how can that be if the season was over. Laughable. The season wasn’t over until they were eliminated from the playoffs by the Giants, what the second to last week of the season? One of the mythos that prevailed for a long time was that the last 4 wins last year didn’t mean anything. Actually they did. Had the Giants not taken care of their own business up until the very end the Eagles were going to the playoffs but only if the Eagles won the string. Another mythos is that the defense was responsible for the 5 4th qtr losses. Yes, they were a large part of why they lost those games, but turnovers by the offense, missed FGs and only scoring a pathetic 3 points in those 5 games were equally at fault. Just because something is repeated over and over doesn’t make it so.
As for Damaris Johnson, he is a player that in only three years broke the NCAA All-Purpose yardage record before ruining his senior year by making a choice to commit a non-violent crime. Given his collegiate accomplishments but more importantly the skill set he exhibited on film, should we really be that surprised by his emergence? I for one am not. Those that dismissed him as a camp body, just a rookie, or among the Eagles “second chance” club are in my view victims of this Eagles mythos and have my sympathy. They know not of what they profess, and are merely parroting the gossip they’ve heard or blindly chose to believe.
Count me as one of people that prefers to let their play in the games define who they are. This includes Damaris Johnson. I just want to see more.
Hey there GMcliff.. This Site has really gotten messed up as far as keeping comments or to be able to go back and forth.. If you See this, Give your 53 Man Roster as you see it thus far..
Has really stood out in camp. Really looks like a find.
Any chance the Eagles can bring in usain bolt for a workout?
Bolt makes 15$ million a year to run fast and not get tackled… No chance in hell