Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the Rams are leaning toward franchising CB Trumaine Johnson.
Rapoport admits that this is a bit unexpected, but there is reportedly a lot of outside interest in Johnson.
Last we heard, Jason Cole of B/R reported that either Janoris Jenkins or Johnson would receive the Rams’ franchise tag with Los Angeles hoping to sign the other to a long-term deal.
According to Cole, the Rams recently improved their offer to a five-year deal for Jenkins. However, they’ve yet to extend an offer to Johnson, which implied that Johnson could be the one headed for the tag.
Rams HC Jeff Fisher mentioned a few days ago that he is hoping to “sign my secondary” with their huge amount of cap space, per Nick Wagoner.
Los Angeles release DE Chris Long, LB James Laurinaitis, and TE Jared Cook. last week, which leaves them among the teams with the most cap space to work with at nearly $60 million to work with, so it’s conceivable that they could keep both Jenkins and Johnson.
Johnson, 26, is a former third-round pick of the Rams back in 2012. He’s played out his rookie contract and is now in position to be one of the best available cornerbacks in this year’s free agent class.
In 2015, Johnson appeared in 14 games and recorded 71 tackles, seven interceptions with one being returned for a touchdown, a fumble recovery and 17 pass defenses. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 19 cornerback out of 111 qualifying players.
We have both players featured in our Top 100 – 2016 Free Agents list.
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