Wednesday, May 1, 2013

4.15 Denver Devils - WR Charles Johnson

In the real world: Johnson comes from a small school in Allendale, Michigan called Grand Valley State. Even though he was not invited to the Scouting Combine, he zoomed onto the radar of front offices throughout the NFL by showing 4.38 speed, 39.5-inch vertical, and 11-foot-1 broad jump at GVSU's Pro Day in March. That's what got him onto NFL teams' draft boards, and the Green Bay Packers, just across Lake Michigan from GVSU, took him in Round 7. He joins a WR corps that has lost Greg Jennings in free agency this year, and may lose James Jones in free agency next year.

GVSU was the third stop in Johnson's college career. He initially went to Eastern Kentucky in 2007, where he was suspended (according to a coach, he and a roommate had a stolen laptop in their room, and when neither was willing to point the finger at the other, EKU officials kicked them both out; the punishment was later reduced to a suspension). He then attended Antelope Valley Community College (Calif.) in 2008, took a season off in 2009 to be home with his dad who was ill, and transferred to Grand Valley State in 2010.

In the TUFF world: Darn near the end of what was supposed to be a shallow draft, and here is a great size-speed package of whose only known drawbacks are having bounced around a few different schools and the level of competition he played against. He might be the poor man's answer to Julio Jones, or he might wind up like other "workout warriors" like Matt Jones and Chris Henry. There aren't many situations where you can make a low-risk, potentially high-reward pick, and I'm sure Denver was happy to pounce on this opportunity.

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