33rd Team: Cardinals’ Paris Johnson under pressure to make big leap in 2nd year

The Arizona Cardinals training camp is underway, and for offensive lineman Paris Johnson it means the time is now to show of his stuff. 33rd Team’s Jeff Diamond etched the lineman’s name on a list of NFL second-year players who are under pressure to perform this upcoming season.

Johnson was the franchise’s first selection in the 2023 NFL Draft at No. 6 overall. The 6-foot-6 Ohio State product started all 17 regular-season games at right tackle, ending with 1,130 snaps which ranked eighth among tackles.

Johnson allowed 42 quarterback pressures and eight sacks. Penalties plagued the then-rookie, his 12 in tie for third with NFL tackles in 2023.

Diamond, former Minnesota Vikings general manager, did not gloss over the penalty issues but said Johnson will need to step up most because of the switch to left tackle for 2024. As this is the blindside for every quarterback, Johnson will be put under an even tighter lens as he will be the primary protection for a resurgent Kyler Murray in the back field.

It will help Johnson and the entire Arizona Cardinals offense to have Kyler Murray back after his ACL injury, which cost him most of last season (with Marvin Harrison Jr. a new weapon at WR).

Johnson is moving from right tackle to left tackle this season, so the pressure is on him to improve his overall play as he protects Murray’s blindside.

When did Johnson make the transition and how is it going?

Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon first announced the position flip in late May. Johnson will be replacing former Cardinal D.J. Humphries, a nine-year mainstay whom the team released in March to free up $15.9 million in cap space.

Johnson told Arizona Sports’ Wolf & Luke that the transition will be a mixed bag because he has not yet taken a high level of professional reps at left tackle.

“I think it is just about getting back in that routine because the techniques and the fundamentals we learn here in our offensive line room, it works left or right. It doesn’t change at all,” Johnson said in the show interview.

Left tackle is not foreign to Johnson, who started all 13 games at that position for the Buckeyes in 2022. With a Second-Team All-Big Ten nod at right guard in 2021, Johnson’s proficiency did not drop on the left end, earning unanimous All-America distinction by the Walter Camp Foundation, Football Writers Association of America and American Football Coaches Association.

Johnson has taken the most advice from fellow tackle Kelvin Beachum. In a July 16 press conference, he said Beachum was preaching to work smarter, not harder and that his mindset should not change.

Fresh out of last year’s draft, Johnson said he did not know if he was going to be used on the right or left side of the Cardinals offensive line. This time around, the entire offseason was spent fine-tuning a specific set of skills.

“I think just the difference between Year 1 and Year 2 was just the extended amount of time I had just to lock in on a position I was going to be playing,” Johnson said a week prior to reporting to training camp.

In the face of expectation, Johnson not only exuded confidence but made it a goal to be a team captain after the position change was made official.

“Literally my whole life I wanted to be an NFL team captain, like specifically NFL,” Johnson said in a May 29 press conference. “If it happens that’d be great, but if not … I want to assume a role as a captain from the respect of the guys on the team.”