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headslapper
And we filled in ok then
You can fill in like that for a few games. Either way Johnson was IR in 2019 in mid October. That might be one reason why the 2019 defense was ranked 12th against the pass, 11th in yards per attempt...but the 2020 defense was ranked 1st against the pass, 1st in yards per attempt. There are other factors too of course, it doesn't get down to one player.
But because you can fill in and replace a guy that does not mean your depth there is equal to what you had. Which in turn does not mean the new guys are bad--but they had no choice but to pick between Floyd and Johnson. They can field good safeties but the odds are against it being the same as JJ.
You don't draft a JJ whenever you want to every other year. That's wishful thinking. In fact name the last Rams safety that was as good as JJ.
To make up for his loss you need a strength to emerge somewhere else on the D. That's not impossible by any means. Just shift things and find a new strength. You can't keep every defensive star.
