The Green Bay Packers added to their practice squad by signing rookie Cornelius Johnson on Wednesday. Johnson is a rookie out of Michigan who was selected in the seventh round of the 2024 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Packers had an opening on Tuesday when quarterback Chris Brooks joined the 53-man roster from the practice squad.
Johnson is 6-foot-3 and weighs 212 pounds. He was the 253rd overall pick in this year’s draft.
At Michigan, Johnson caught 138 passes for 2,038 yards and 14 touchdowns in 61 games and 44 starts. A three-year starter, Johnson was part of a Michigan program that made the College Football Playoffs for three consecutive seasons and won a national title in 2023. As a senior, he caught 47 passes for 604 yards and a touchdown as one of J.J. McCarthy’s top targets for the national champions.
Johnson has come across as a competitive athlete at wide receiver during the pre-draft process. He has a Relative Athletic Score of 9.46, thanks to a 37.5-inch vertical jump, a 10-7 broad jump, a 1.52-second 10-yard dash, a 4.44-second 40-yard dash and a 6.93-second three-cone time.
It’s no wonder the Chargers — now coached by former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh — took a chance on Johnson in the seventh round. He was released after final cuts but spent some time with the Chargers’ practice squad this year.
During the preseason, Johnson caught three of nine targets for 34 yards. PFF counted him as one sack.
Johnson is not only huge and athletic, but he is no stranger to perimeter blocking duties in the running game. He was asked to block runs on more than 1,000 career snaps at Michigan. In his pre-project profileLance Zierlein of NFL.com described Johnson as a “chippy run-blocker” with “the potential to be a weapon as a perimeter blocker” at the next level. He sounds like a Packers receiver.
