Derrick Johnson used to be one of those Kansas City Chiefs players that played every snap on defense. He and Ron Parker, Eric Berry (when heathy) and Marcus Peters often played 100 percent of the defensive snaps.
This season, as you know, 34-year old DJ has not been playing every snap. He’s played around 70 percent of the snaps the past few weeks. That’s because DJ is getting up there in age and also because the Chiefs have other inside linebackers they like (like Kevin Pierre-Louis).
So, how is DJ doing as a “part-time player”? He’s still adding value.
Derrick Johnson is allowing the fewest yards per coverage snap among inside linebackers this season (0.41). Limiting his snaps (845 so far) has worked #ChiefsKingdom
— Eric Eager (@PFF_EricEager) December 27, 2017
When I used to think of DJ, I used to think of his athleticism avoiding blockers and flying through the line to tackle someone behind the line of scrimmage. These days, DJ’s best value is in coverage, which is fine with me at this point in his career. The Chiefs run defense has been better lately and if you were giving me a choice between being better against the run or the pass I would pick the pass every time.
I think DJ comes back next year. Do you?