In this series I’ll be going over who I think will be the top 20 impact players for the Lions in 2018, next up is Kerryon Johnson.

The more I think over this pick, the more I sway back and forth to whether he’ll be as impactful as I hope he will be. Is it a real situation of rose tinted glasses? My gut says no but my head, with the previous four years history says maybe it is. However, I’m gambling on Kerryon Johnson for a few reasons.

The first one is teams playing the Lions will know they are a pass heavy team, they are infamous for it. If you’re lined up against #9, odds are you’ll be seeing the ball flying through the air more often than not. That should give Kerryon a good foundation to work with. He shouldn’t be facing teams who are primarily gambling on the run. He should be given lanes to work with. Given the lack of run success in the previous years, he also doesn’t have much pressure to make a huge impact. That should work in his favor as the expectations are so low. Also having someone as seasoned as LeGarrette Blount in the backfield will give him an experienced mentor.

He’s also not a one trick pony, he can catch the ball pretty well. That gives him more opportunities to make plays. Whereas I can see Blount being an impactful player, if you’re lining up against him you know what he’s likely to do. Johnson has been compared to Le’Veon Bell in a lot of draft profiles and analysis reports. While that would be fantastic if he was at that level, the style is the main things that I think will benefit him. If he’s a more patient sensible player and can see lanes developing in front of him, I believe he’ll make more plays than someone who just runs at the designates hole on a play (which often break down with the Lions O-line the way it has been).

I’d assume Kerryon Johnson will be part of a running back committee but I can see him being the leader of that in terms on carries. While having a major impact for me is simply having a 100 yard game, I think he’ll surpass that.

List so far:

Rick Wagner – #20

Jamal Agnew – #19

Kerry Hyder – #18

Da’Shawn Hand – #17

Taylor Decker – #16

Frank Ragnow – #15

Matt Prater – #14

LeGarrette Blount – #13

Teez Tabor – #12

Devon Kennard – #11

Quandre Diggs – #10

Golden Tate – #9

Jarrad Davis – #8

Glover Quin – #7

Marvin Jones – #6

A’Shawn Robinson – #5

Thanks for checking out the article everyone. Go Lions! Let me know what you think on Twitter @Alex_Watt_Lions and be sure to join the community on the Detroit Lions subreddit.