Which undrafted free agents could make an impact in the 2023 NFL season?

#11. Quindell Johnson, SAF, Los Angeles Rams (Memphis)

Memphis safety Quindell Johnson

While I wanted to wax poetic about Illinois safety Sydney Brown as one of “my guy”, I did mention Quindell Johnson as a guy I’m much higher on than consensus. He did rise a little bit throughout the draft process and was right on the fringe of being drafted as safety 23, but I had him 12th in my personal position rankings.

A three-star recruit in 2018, he decided to redshirt that year, but entered the starting lineup midway through the following season and didn’t leave it from that point on (being named second-team All-AAC in 2020 and ’21, before rising to first-team this past season). Across his 49 career games, he racked up 320 total tackles (226 solo), 15.5 of those for loss, ten interceptions, 24 PBUs, four fumbles forced and three more recovered.

This is a smooth, fluid athlete, who was used pretty evenly between deep safety, slot and in the box for his career with the Tigers. He processes the game and fulfills his assignments at a high level, with excellent instincts and good size (6’0”, 200 pounds) for the position. He sees the field well to decipher through passing pattern, identifies the biggest threat and doesn’t allow the quarterback’s eyes to move him off his landmarks. Plus, then he’s consistent with his angles from depth to stop completions for minimal yardage.

When asked to play more man-coverage in the slot, he understands what to expect based on who he’s facing, stays locked in on their hips, anticipates breaks and rakes through the catch-point. With 33-inch arms and a solid frame, he projects pretty well as somebody matching up with tight-ends for extended stretches.

The Memphis coaches called him the “heartbeat” of the defense, thanks in part to his physicality and the way he would attack against the run, playing to his leverage, confidently fills extra gaps being created when being down in the box and quickly IDs reverses, screen passes and such.

I don’t think he’s very explosive or snappy in his hips, to range out to throws outside his area. When playing press-man, he lacks the recovery burst to get back into phase if he misses the initial jam and what really hurt him I believe, was that his missed-tackle number went up by nearly 10% this past season (although I think that will return to being a strong-suit of his game, like it was for the majority of his career).

So while he might not be a high-level athlete, his ability to take up and work through information, the way he works upfield against the run and his versatility to fulfill different roles, make me believe he can excel in a split-safety based defensive scheme, which the Rams will run under DC Raheem Morris.

In that way, he reminds me very much of a guy L.A. selected in the sixth round last year out of UCLA in Quentin Lake. They still had Jordan Fuller, but other than, it’s two seventh-rounders from the last couple of years in Russ Yeast and Jason Taylor II (who I had right there in my rankings with Johnson) and a late-round pick by the Browns from two years ago in Richard LeCounte. So this depth chart isn’t settled at all yet and I think Quindell has a chance to play significant snaps for the Rams.