D.
J. Johnson.
D.
J. Johnson.
Oregon· 6'4"· 260 lb· 4.49s 40
"Every trait Carolina paid for on draft night was real; the problem was that a 24-year-old with one season of defensive starts had no runway left to turn those traits into technique."Pre-draft read
Johnson is a stand-up edge rusher whose college career happened mostly somewhere else, and it shows in the best and worst ways. He aligns wide as a 9-technique or over the tight end in a two-point stance, and the launch is what jumps: a violent first step, ground closed in two strides, speed turned into contact. His hands are heavy rather than refined, and the rush plan is a long-arm or a dip around the corner.
Against the run he plays with real want-to, setting a hard edge and spilling pullers, though he gets washed when linemen catch his chest. The secondary trait is closing burst once a pocket breaks. The signature: a 260-pound man who tested like a tight end and hits like a linebacker, still learning what to do with it.
Odd-front 3-4 defense that plays its outside linebackers in a two-point stance
Year 1: rotational rush linebacker for 20-25 snaps plus four special-teams phases. Ceiling: high-end SAM who plays 60 percent of snaps and gets to seven or eight sacks a year.
A four-down even-front defense that asks him to play hand-in-the-dirt 5-technique against zone-run teams every snap, where his run-diagnosis lag gets exposed without the two-point stance advantages.
Value is highest on a staff with a strong special-teams coordinator willing to develop him slowly.
Johnson's tape asks an evaluator to grade projection over production. He arrived at Miami as a defensive end, transferred to Oregon, spent two full seasons at tight end, then moved back to defense and started as a sixth-year senior. What emerged is a physical, downhill edge player who wins with explosion and effort rather than a developed hand-fighting toolbox.
The one season of real defensive volume was loud. In 2022 he posted 39 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss and 6.0 sacks in 11 games as a stand-up rusher in Oregon's front, and he showed up in the biggest games rather than padding the box score. The flags were just as loud: a single year of meaningful reps at the position, a rush plan that leaned on one move, and a draft age north of 24 that shrank the runway on any development curve.
Boards scattered him across day two and day three because evaluators weighted those variables differently. Carolina traded up for him at 80, which said plainly that the front office was buying the traits and the Senior Bowl week rather than the resume, betting a special-teams role would buy the staff time.
- 01
Explosive get-off
Fires off the snap with a violent first step and eats the tackle's cushion in two strides, forcing sets to open early.
- 02
Rare athletic profile
Ran 4.49 at 260 pounds with 28 bench reps at the Combine, testing numbers that live in the top tier for edge rushers.
- 03
Play strength at the point
Sets a firm edge with the outside arm against tight ends and wing blockers, and rarely gets displaced backward.
- 04
Motor and pursuit
Chases plays flat down the line and finishes from the backside, which is where a real chunk of his 2022 production came from.
- 05
Special-teams value
Long, fast and willing in coverage phases, giving him an immediate roster path independent of defensive snaps.
- 01
One-year sample
Only 2022 offers meaningful defensive tape after two seasons at tight end, so the evaluation rests on a very thin body of work.
- 02
Limited rush plan
Wins with the long-arm and a speed dip; the counter, the inside move and the hand-fighting sequence were all unfinished.
- 03
Draft age
Turned 24 before the season, which compresses the window for the technical development his profile explicitly required.
- 04
Recognition and eye discipline
Late to diagnose pullers, screens and misdirection, and can be moved out of gaps he was responsible for.
Relative Athletic Score (Kent Lee Platte) benchmarks combine/pro-day numbers against every measured prospect at the position since 1987. 10.00 is elite; 5.00 is average.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.49sp50
- Vertical
- 32inp50
- Broad jump
- 110inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- 28repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Miami (FL) | 8 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2019 | Oregon | 13 | 14 | 2 | 0 | — | 1 |
| 2020 | Oregon | 7 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2021 | Oregon | 11 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2022 | Oregon | 11 | 39 | 6 | 0 | 2 | — |
| Career | — | 50 | — | 9 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
Redshirt/ineligible in 2018 after transferring from Miami; played tight end in 2020-2021 (10-113-3 receiving in 2020, 1-11-0 in 2021) and posted no defensive stats those years. Season tackle totals for 2017 and the tight end years are not published in a verifiable source, so they are left blank rather than zero-filled.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Rotational traits rusher who flashes and contributes on teams without ever locking down a full-time role.
Similar stand-up length and burst, but Nwosu had the college reps and hand usage Johnson never got.
Athletic edge whose lack of a rush plan leaves him as a special-teams roster body bouncing between clubs.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
D. J. Johnson played his rookie season for the Carolina Panthers, appearing in 13 games as a reserve linebacker and special teams player.
Carolina never solved the usage question. As a rookie he played 13 games, mostly on special teams and in situational rush packages, finishing with 14 tackles and no sacks while getting three spot starts around injuries. The 2024 season was his most substantial: 14 games, 41 tackles, half a sack and a forced fumble, which is a rotational defender's line rather than a third-round pass rusher's. In 2025 the role evaporated. He appeared in four games with two tackles, started once when the room ahead of him was inactive, and the Panthers waived him on September 30 - a public admission that the trade-up had not worked. He signed a reserve/futures deal with Washington in January 2026 and is on the roster as a defensive end.
In hindsight the pick was a bet on a body rather than on a player. The traits were exactly as advertised, but what Carolina needed him to add - a second and third pass-rush move plus the pattern recognition that comes from reps - was what his path had never given him time to build. A 24-year-old with one year of defensive starts is not a developmental prospect; he is a finished product with gaps. Washington gets a cheap special-teams contributor with real athleticism, which is probably what he always was.
Data note: Redshirt/ineligible in 2018 after transferring from Miami; played tight end in 2020-2021 (10-113-3 receiving in 2020, 1-11-0 in 2021) and posted no defensive stats those years. Season tackle totals for 2017 and the tight end years are not published in a verifiable source, so they are left blank rather than zero-filled.