Today’s late-round rookie signings:
Los Angeles Rams
Johnson earned the moniker of Mr. Irrelevant after being selected with the No. 259 (and final) pick of the 2023 draft. The defensive lineman was especially productive over his final two seasons at Toledo, combining for 135 tackles, 29 tackles for loss, and 10 sacks in 27 games. He’s the first member of the Rams’ draft class to ink their four-year rookie contract.
With the final pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, the Los Angeles Rams have drafted Toledo defensive lineman Desjuan Johnson, making him this year’s Mr. Irrelevant. The 23-year-old will get to learn behind the best in the business as he gets Aaron Donald as a potential mentor.
Johnson spent five years as a Rocket, becoming more and more disruptive over time. Once he became a starter on the Toledo defensive line in 2020, Johnson took permanent residence in his opponents’ backfield. He ended his college career with 15.0 sacks and 47.0 tackles for loss in only 31 starts, earning second-team All-MAC honors in 2020 and 2021 and first-team All-MAC honors last season.
The two marks on Johnson are the level of competition he played against and his lack of ideal size. At 6-foot-2, 285 pounds, Johnson doesn’t look on the surface to be the ideal NFL interior defender. Neither does Donald, though, and we all know how that’s turned out.
With the departure of Greg Gaines and A’Shawn Robinson in free agency, there should be snaps available in the rotation of the interior defensive line. There are a few other players on the depth chart to compete with for those snaps, but especially getting to be in the same room with an undersized defensive line star like Donald, Johnson will have every opportunity to prove the Mr. Irrelevant title wrong.