Is Michigan Wolverines cornerback Will Johnson one of the best overall prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft class? That’s what we explore in his official scouting report.
Johnson is just now entering his first year of NFL Draft eligibility, but he’s been a game-changer since first stepping on the field in the Big House.
Will Johnson’s Draft Profile and Measurements
- Height: 6’2″
- Weight: 202 pounds
- Position: Cornerback
- School: Michigan
- Current Year: Junior
At the very beginning of his football career, Johnson displayed clear star potential. At Grosse Pointe South High School near Detroit, Michigan, that potential began to manifest in reality.
As a senior at Grosse Pointe South, Johnson flourished as a two-way player. He hauled in 42 receptions for 667 yards and six touchdowns on offense. Meanwhile, on defense, he racked up an interception and 12 pass breakups.
As a five-star recruit, Johnson had dozens of suitors. But his father, Deon Johnson, had played CB for the Wolverines in the 1990s. The prospect of playing in state as a legacy player — for a championship-caliber team — was incredibly appealing to the younger Johnson.
It didn’t take long for Johnson to outreach the legacy of his father with the Wolverines. As a true freshman, the younger Johnson acclimated immediately and became a Freshman All-American while piling up 27 tackles, two tackles for loss, three interceptions, and three pass breakups.
In 2023, Johnson only got better. A key cog of Michigan’s National Championship squad, Johnson amassed 27 tackles, a TFL, four INTs — including a pick-six — and four pass deflections. He famously went toe-to-toe with Marvin Harrison Jr. and helped Michigan win a ring under Jim Harbaugh.
Now Harbaugh, and many others, are gone — but Johnson remains as a returning first-team All-American, first-team All-Big Ten performer, and a definite pro prospect.
Though Johnson’s early 2024 stretch has been a bit more up-and-down than expected, he already has a pick-six, two pass breakups, and a TFL to show for his efforts, and he’s a big reason why the Michigan defense remains potent even pressing farther into 2024.
Johnson’s Scouting Report
Strengths
- Well-built CB with impressive height, lean mass, and proportional length.
- Effortless accelerator with elite explosive capacity, both on attack and in recovery.
- Rare corrective quickness and twitch allow him to adapt at multiple route levels.
- Has unnatural foot speed and plant-and-drive quickness for his size in off-man.
- Quicks, malleability, and short-area burst form a stifling corrective failsafe in coverage.
- Has the smooth fluidity to adjust hip leverage and undergo swift 180-degree transitions.
- Possesses smooth throttle freedom and control in side-saddle, with anti-stack speed.
- Has shown to shift from pedal to side-saddle to trail technique on a given rep.
- Instinctively ascribes techniques based on depth and situation, with a limitless toolbox.
- Flashes patience and discipline in press and can tempo up to close gaps off releases.
- Instantly responds to stimulus and can click-and-close and drive on route breaks.
- Patient, disciplined zone defender who can monitor overlapping routes and blind spots.
- Can jar wide receivers in press with length, strength, and willing physicality via two-hand jams.
- Can use his frame to wall off receivers at the catch point and undercut throws.
- Former WR who has ball-hawking tendencies and is an elite turnover-generating force.
Weaknesses
- Sometimes oversets laterally in press-man coverage, opening the gate inside too early.
- Still learning how to modulate matching footwork and transition to drives from press.
- Double moves and stop-and-go’s can bait him into diverting upright and hitching.
- Despite high-level fluidity, lacks elite sink when breaking inside over slants and crossers.
- Occasionally plays too tall on his backpedal, which can delay sharp redirections.
- Is at times overzealous with his physicality and interferes with WR routes by wrapping.
- Playmaking urge can cause him to trigger too quickly underneath, vacating zones.
- At times, could get his head around quicker to track the ball when working vertical.
- On occasion, could play the ball with more precision when working to disrupt in trail.
- Sometimes fails to wrap up as a tackler and grazes past his opponents.
- Is a willing, active support presence, but functions more as a safety blanket at this time.
Current Draft Projection and Summary
Johnson grades out as an early-to-mid first-round prospect in the 2025 NFL Draft, and he could be a blue-chip prospect when it’s all said and done. Currently, Johnson is worth top-10 capital. There’s still room for growth, but his composite profile invites excitement.
At 6’2″, 202 pounds, Johnson is a superlative physical talent who combines length, lean mass, and physicality with elite explosiveness, short-area agility, twitch, and venerable long speed. He also has exceptional fluidity for his size, which he can use to adapt and transition.
Going beyond the physical category, Johnson shows off uncommon vision, reaction speed, and processing ability for his experience level. He’s a sharp and patient zone defender with a deep bag of techniques, who has bug-like stimuli and reaction quickness in off-man and working layered routes.
While Johnson has a definite playmaking gene and turnover-generating capabilities, there’s still room to perfect his craft as a playmaker. His tracking and timing as a disruptor at the catch point can improve, as can his tackling form and discipline at the contact point.
Nevertheless, Johnson already has a complete profile with physical and operational strength, as well as schematic versatility. He’s more potent in zone and off-man coverage, but he also has the tools to overwhelm wide receivers in press-man.
Johnson’s ceiling is an extremely high one. He has all of the tools to be a true blue-chip prospect, a top-10 pick at the CB position, and one of the standard-bearers of the 2020s on the NFL Draft stage.