The Kansas City Chiefs have been revamping the cornerback position this offseason and continued the task by acquiring Lonnie Johnson Jr. Kansas City announced it acquired Johnson from the Houston Texans, giving up a conditional seventh-round draft choice in 2024 to do so, per NFL Network.
Johnson, a second-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, started 19 of 44 games in three seasons with the Texans. He has 172 tackles, 13 passes defensed and three interceptions with all three of those picks coming last season. In 2021, Johnson started seven of 14 games, finishing with 55 tackles, six passes defensed and three interceptions.
When Johnson was the primary defender in 2021, opposing quarterbacks completed just 56.7% of their passes for three touchdowns when targeting him. Those quarterbacks had just a 55.7 passer rating targeting Johnson.
The Texans drafted Derek Stingley Jr, at No. 3 overall in last week's draft and signed Steven Nelson in free agency last month, paving the way for Johnson to ask for a trade. Johnson admitted on social media earlier Monday that he asked for the Texans to trade him if they could find a partner.
Before y’all get to talking krazy on this app I asked for this myself thank you @HoustonTexans for the opportunity this isn’t a farewell this is more like see ya soon ‼️ pic.twitter.com/B5fk45oLcq
— Lonnie Johnson jr. (@Lonnie30johnson) May 2, 2022
The Chiefs lost Charvarius Ward in free agency and decided to overhaul the cornerback position. They drafted Trent McDuffie in the first round and Joshua Williams in the fourth round and also have Rashad Fenton in the fold. Johnson will compete for a starting job in Kansas City and is certainly a factor in the rotation for 2022.
