They say that deadlines spur action but, so far, the impending July 17 deadline for franchise-tagged players has not brought about progress for the Rams and cornerback Trumaine Johnson. Once again, we have word that a contract extension for Johnson is not in the works (Twitter link via Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports). 
Barring a surprising last-minute change, Johnson will play out the 2017 season on his one-year, $16.742MM franchise tender. Because this is the second consecutive year in which he has been tagged, Johnson’s salary is 20% higher than last year’s, giving him the top salary of any cornerback in the NFL.
Johnson is no slouch, but it’s hard to argue that the 27-year-old should be the highest compensated CB in the league. The Rams know this, but they also felt that they had little choice when it came time to make their big decision this offseason. If the Rams allowed Johnson to test the free agency waters, they would have risked losing two starting cornerbacks in two years.
Meanwhile, Johnson seems very willing to play out the season at his lucrative salary and cash in as a free agent next offseason. Right now, 14 cornerbacks in the NFL are averaging $10MM or more per year. If Johnson plays roughly as well as he has in the last two years, $10MM/ year seems like his worst-case scenario, given that he’ll be entering his age-28 season. If Johnson can take a step forward and establish himself as a shutdown corner, then he just might put himself in the top five at the position.