When you’re a speed demon as a running back, one of the natural uses is as a receiver out of the backfield. Ty Johnson certainly brings the speed with him as the Lions’ sixth-round pick. He ran his 40-yard dash in under 4.4 seconds at his pro day and flashed the jets on long runs and kickoff returns.
But Johnson didn’t get a lot of work as a receiver at Maryland. He caught just 11 passes in the last two seasons for the Terrapins in their backfield-by-committee.
That leads to questions about why Johnson didn’t get more work. Is it his hands?
“I feel like they’re pretty great, to be honest,” Johnson answered in his conference call with reporters following his selection. “I just never really was in the pass game all that much my past few years. I feel my pass catching is good, my route-running is good, so obviously I’m going to still continue to work on that. I’ve been working on it, so just a continuation of working on that, working on my feet, working on getting out of my cut quicker, so just a continuation of improving all of that, including the other stuff like pass pro, all that.”
Johnson did catch 16 passes in his sophomore season in 2016. And he proved his ability to operate in space as a kick returner. Oh by the way, Johnson averaged almost 8 yards per carry despite playing behind one of the worst offensive lines in major college football.
