Trumaine Johnson’s future with Rams will be determined under Wade Phillips’ defense

It appears one of the main reasons why Trumaine Johnson is still part of the Los Angeles Rams is to see how the cornerback fits in Wade Phillips’ defense.

Whether Los Angeles Rams fans like it or not, the storyline surrounding Trumaine Johnson‘s future with the team is going to be heavily discussed throughout the 2017 NFL season. After months of speculating whether Les Snead and company would reward their cornerback with a long-term deal, the Rams decided to keep Johnson under the franchise for the second year in a row, paying him just under $17 million.

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It’s easy to argue the only reason why Los Angeles was willing to use the hefty franchise tag on Johnson for the second-straight season was due to the reason they simply couldn’t afford to lose him at cornerback like last year with Janoris Jenkins. And while there were times in the offseason when it seemed like Johnson would be on his way out, it looks like defensive coordinator Wade Phillips is the main reason why the cornerback ended up staying put.

When taking this into consideration, it makes more sense why Johnson is still in the picture since there’s no way of telling how the cornerback would be in Phillips’ system if he ended up elsewhere for the 2017 season. Who knows, based off Phillips’ history of finding success during his first year with new teams, maybe the new Rams defensive coordinator will figure out a way to get Johnson to return to his 2015 form in which he managed to record seven interceptions.

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For obvious reasons, Johnson has every reason in the world to be frustrated over the situation since the cornerback obviously would have preferred a long-term deal, but that doesn’t mean things could end up working out down the road. Depending on how well Johnson fits into Phillips’ defense this year, maybe Los Angeles will reconsider a long-term deal when the time comes next offseason.