Scouting Report: Duke Johnson, RB, Miami

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Pass Catching

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In college, Johnson was asked to run pretty much every type of route a RB is typically asked to run. He didn’t seem to have a particular problem running any of those routes, and in fact was sometimes quite impressive after the catch. Scattered throughout his tape, however, like the last two gifs above, there were what I’ll call concentration drops: plays that look like they should be easy catches but are inexplicably dropped. I saw it happen enough times for it to be a trend. He’s a solid option in the passing game, but not a spectacular one.

Blocking

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Johnson is a willing pass blocker. He is also pretty successful as a cut blocker. He was asked to chip on a number of plays, and gets that done without interfering with the lineman he is helping. He is even willing to stand up and face defenders head on, even if his technique leaves something to be desired. As you can see from the bottom two gifs above, he basically throws all of his force into a punch to knock the defender off balance rather than squaring up and actually blocking the defender. In the NFL, savvy pass rushers will use this against him and be able to get by him. He will need to learn proper technique. I will say, however, that I really like that he has the ability to diagnose and get to blitzers on the other side of the QB from him to impede their progress. That’s something not all RBs can do.

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