Why Trumaine Johnson Should’ve Made the Pro Bowl

Dec 6, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders wide receiver Amari Cooper (89) catches the ball against Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters (22) during the fourth quarter at O.co Coliseum. The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Oakland Raiders 34-20. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Who Didn’t Deserve Pro Bowl Honors Over Johnson?

Many would argue that the best “shutdown” corners will have less interceptions and passes defensed due to the fact that quarterbacks will generally avoid throwing towards their way. While this may be true, an NFL quarterback will occasionally attack the side of a shutdown corner when going through his progressions. Therefore, it’s best to judge the “shutdown” ability of a corner through extensive game film review and analytics.

Oct 4, 2015; Glendale, AZ, USA; St. Louis Rams cornerback Trumaine Johnson (22) attempts to strip the ball from Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Michael Floyd (15) during the first half at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

So who should Johnson replace on the current 2016 Pro Bowl list? Corners like Malcolm Butler and Josh Norman definitely deserved first-time Pro Bowl honors. If you watched these young studs play, both proved their ability on a consistent basis.

On the other hand, teammates Chris Harris and Aqib Talib are the best corners on arguably the best defense in the league and will deservedly make the trip to Hawaii unless the Broncos make a miraculous Super Bowl-run with Brock Osweiler under center.

There’s also Darrelle Revis, Richard Sherman, and Patrick Peterson, who are some of the most popularized names when it comes to the highly-coveted “shutdown” corners of the NFL. Although I believe that these athletes have become excellent football players, they shouldn’t automatically be placed in the Pro Bowl because of their reputation across fanbases.

If there’s one corner that Johnson could’ve replaced on the roster, it would be Marcus Peters—the rookie playing in Arrowhead.

Why was Peters selected to the Pro Bowl? Interceptions. That’s what everyone wants in a corner: a playmaker who can change possession in an instant. However, for Peters, it comes at a cost. According to Pro Football Focus, he has allowed seven touchdowns this year and a staggering 902 yards when thrown to in his coverage. Sounds a lot like Jenkins during his first couple years in St. Louis. Does Peters have a bright future ahead of him? Yes, but he’s going to need much more development until he’s rightfully named a Pro Bowler in the future.

The biggest obstacle in Johnson’s journey to a Pro Bowl is the overall depth in the cornerback pool. There were several corners that deserved Pro Bowl honors this year (e.g. Darius Slay of the Detroit Lions), and Johnson was only one of them. The Rams need to win more than six games this late in the season if they want more players in this prestigious, yet meaningless pre-Super Bowl game. The fact of the matter is that a single invitation to the Pro Bowl doesn’t really matter (e.g. Nick Foles).

Johnson knows how good he is. The Rams should too. If the Rams re-sign this rising star in the offseason, fans will be yelling “Truuuuu!” for years to come, Pro Bowl or not.

Trumaine Johnson and the St. Louis Rams (6-8) will be heading northwest to the daunting CenturyLink Field to face Doug Baldwin and the red-hot Seattle Seahawks (9-5) in a penultimate regular season matchup. Although the Rams are mathematically out of the playoff picture, the team will be looking to gain momentum for next season with a season sweep of their division rivals.