John Johnson III injury another crushing blow for Rams on defense

Los Angeles Rams safety John Johnson III is the latest victim heading to IR due to a shoulder injury suffered in Week 6.

For a team that has already been dealing with too many injuries on both sides of the football so far in 2019, it looks like the Los Angeles Rams will need to adjust at safety now that John Johnson III is heading to IR.

Unfortunately, the Rams safety suffered a shoulder injury during the team’s Week 6 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, and while Sean McVay seems confident in Marqui Christian stepping up in Johnson’s absence, it’s tough to imagine the impact will be the same.

Back in 2017, Los Angeles felt confident enough in Johnson one day becoming a key part of the defense after deciding to use a third-round pick on Boston College product during the draft that year.

After starting 11 of 16 games as a rookie that season, Johnson took a major step in the right direction during his sophomore campaign in 2018 by starting every game for the Rams, and even found a way to record four interceptions to go along with 119 total tackles.

Finding a special player like Johnson who is only scratching the surface of their true potential provided Los Angeles with plenty of reasons to be excited about their future on defense with the safety, which is part of the reason why this recent news is so devastating.

Seeing how the Rams’ defense was already dealing with numerous key injuries to certain players such as Clay Matthews and Aqib Talib in recent weeks, the shoulder injury to Johnson continues to show this team just can’t catch a break in the injury department.

Once Johnson is healthy enough to return, there’s obviously no concern from the Rams over being able to return to his effective ways, but it’s the meantime that should have Los Angeles frustrated over their current situation on defense.

With the Rams heading into Week 7 on a three-game losing streak while trailing both the 49ers and Seattle Seahawks in the division race, Los Angeles needs all of the help they can get to turn things around in the win department before it’s too late.

In just his third NFL season, Johnson has already been making a strong case for being one of the top young safeties on the rise, and no matter how hard the Rams try, filling in the void during his absence is going to be far from easy.