• Position: Wide Receiver
• College: Michigan
• Class: Senior
• Number: 6
• Selected at: Round 7 Pick 33 (253th overall)
• Age when drafted: 23.51

Production

Games Watched:

• Minnesota - 10.08.2023
• Rutgers - 23.09.2023
• Ohio State - 11.25.2023
• Washington - 01.09.2024

Positives:

CJ is a fierce blocker who loves to shut down corners even on the backside of the play. The first area of actual receiver work I liked it when he opened up on speed cuts, he ran a post route vs Ohio State where he didn't have the best release but his second phase of full open strides ate up ground, the best part though was the speed he carried through the cut, he has the ability to maintain his stride length all the way through this type of move and it intrigues me into thinking he could be a downfield threat. He absolutely burnt Davison Igbinosun with a clean head fake Out'n Up on the iso/boundary side of the play, he froze the corners feet with good upper body details and if JJ had spotted him it was a score. He might be bad at getting into his breaks but he gets out of them with speed so if he can have a role that is more vertical I feel like he can be a threat. I see proper burst off of his back foot cuts so it is frustrating to know he has the athleticism to make football moves but his technical work is so far away from complete that it's hard to see him making the jump as a pro especially having spent five years at an elite power five school. I like the intangibles shown on tape, he runs QB friendly routes on broken plays making himself available on roll outs and he sprints to blocks even when he's got 25 yards to make up on an A gap run. He made a great grab on a short hitch from the slot where he overhand caught a bullet from JJ and brought it into his chest through hand contact without having to readjust the ball position and risk a fumble; nice work. Yet again he overcomes his reputation for inconsistent hands to make a grab at full extension going against his momentum on wild throwback on the rollout by JJ, this shouldn't have been thrown but CJ was ready for it and seized the moment. I think it's noteworthy that on a game clinching drive against their biggest rivals on their way to a championship season, Michigan went to Cornelius 3 times and he secured all three catches; that's trust. Looks a genuine threat when running a crosser using his long strides and tall frame to box out any trail attempt, I want to see him used in this way at the next level. Whilst he is not smooth at the top of his routes with false steps appearing more often than you'd like, he can get to a stop quickly and he uses the first step out of it well to gain separation coming back to the ball. Against Minnesota he showed some decent YAC ability catching the ball on the out route off of a short inside motion, he caught the ball whilst transitioning and didn't lose any momentum with tidy footwork, he then broke a tackle and gained 15 yards after the catch using long strides to take the challenge to the defense; he looked like a threat here off the concept that gave him the ball in space. He punished the Gophers on a post route where he used a decent head fake to explode off of his one step cut to attack the middle hole and JJ connected with him allowing him to turn back to the catch that meant he could protect himself from the multiple tacklers waiting for him; CJ does everything better downfield when he's built up speed, this is where he should play. Now there is the star play I've been waiting for; he is playing the slot of the motioned trips and he runs the post part of the post/wheel concept which gives the half field safety pause and Johnson exposed this with a full stride release and speed cut across the safety’s face, he threw his hand up straight away as he knew it was over, JJ put his all into the throw but his deep ball arm strength isn't the best so CJ had to make an acrobatic grab through contact whilst waiting for the ball to land; this was a very impressive play.

Negatives:

Okay let's get this out of the way; this man was not taught how to run routes correctly, he is gangly, uncoordinated and it looks like he was taught to run by reading a book. His route running is unlike anything I've ever seen as an evaluator at this level, he throws his limbs at the floor in the hope it will end up in what he's been told will be a dynamic movement but it just ends up like a performance of a route instead of an actual route. He takes double the amount of steps that should be needed to come to a stop and his lateral cuts are very much rounded off; essentially he is just running to spots on the field without any of the technical ability you’d expect to see in a draft eligible receiver. Even though he is a good blocker he did get rocked back by a safety coming downhill against Ohio State so he isn't quite the alpha dog that you'd expect for someone who stayed on the field all game long despite only getting under four targets per game. His choppy releases have got to be erased from his arsenal because they are so flat that all it does is give corners time to settle, read and reposition, please just use your size and speed instead Cornelius! 17 drops is far too many for a player targeted as infrequently as he was, his technique is questionable as he turns all the way back to the ball and stoops to grab it instead of meeting it at a higher point, his footwork needs to be better here to put him in a better position. This showed up against Minnesota where he had to extend down to catch a ball and it cost him a touchdown. His drops can also be attributed to his dramatically small hands (6th Percentile) which is something that cannot be coached to improve and that is a concern. His hips telegraph his cut direction long before he's sinking to make his move, he really needs to work on staying square as he turns his shoulders as well as together this makes his breaks incredibly easy to read, when you add this to his rounded footwork and extra steps its hard to see how he could possible make an impact in a horizontal scheme at the next level. To say his release package is limited is being kind, he has three moves; a skip diamond base that turns into an inside stem or a wide go pattern and a sprint one. If he's to play X he'll need a few more at least to beat press and they're not beyond his capacity.

Overall Grade:

WR21 / Tier 9 / Round 7

Summary:

From watching his tape against Ohio State and Washington in the CFB final I was underwhelmed about his translation to the NFL as he is technically very far away from being pro level when operating as an starting receiver. However, once you dive further into the tape, especially against Minnesota, you can see what should become his primary role going forwards as a deep threat. His numbers before his senior season represented this deeper role but as he became more reliable Michigan wanted him to do more and it just did not suit his skill set. CJ’s long open strides, long frame body and efficient speed cuts can turn him into a player who can operate as an X receiver in a vertical offense at a decent level but there are genuine concerns about his catching talent. His Trump level of disproportionately small hands go some of the way to explaining his 17 drops but his technique isn't great either as he relies on his arms to close the gap to the ball location where his footwork should be doing this. In general though Cornelius is just not a technically sound receiver at all, his lateral work is shocking for someone that has played five seasons of Power 5 football off the back of being a highly recruited receiver at high school, Michigan wasn't the best fit for his style so I'll give him some grace here but the tape doesn't lie and what it shows is that he rounds off every lateral cut, his release package is severely underdeveloped and his general route running is lacking any kind of detail. Overall I like his upside as a deep ball winning X but his inconsistent hands and lack of dynamic movement skills really limits the trust that can be put on him especially if he ends up in a system that requires him to try and work laterally. I project him to be a role player on a run heavy team that can give the primary smaller receivers a break from running deep routes.

System fit:

CJ projects as someone who can thrive in Greg Roman's offense because of his blend of size, speed and power even if he doesn't have the immediate capability to work horizontally or separate against press man through high level route running. Roman's run-first system unsurprisingly matches what Michigan ran last year so it's easy to see his fit if there are some adjustments made. In Ann Arbor he was asked to be something he is not as their recruitment efforts were rightly focused on other areas, the NFL is a different beast and specialisms win out because the transition from backup spots to starting is very difficult to surmount. Michigan only threw the ball 40% of the time and their passing concepts were largely built off of that base. CJ is a vertical and crossfield threat that can and should be on the field for two man play action concepts which require someone with size who can block and fly which the roster is lacking outside of Josh Palmer. Streamlining his role into a deep field X who can also be a genuine blocking threat (and loves to do it) is something that means he can get onto the field earlier than expected. However if his usage is even slightly unclear I expect him to fall off the bottom of the roster because he is nowhere close to a technically sound receiver in a very crowded WR room that will afford very little opportunity outside of special teams.

System Player Comparison:

Someone the Ravens drafted to fit this role in Greg Roman’s offense was Miles Boykin. The Notre Dame alumni was brought in to be a 15+ YPC seam threat that could force teams to play two high as a ridicilously high RAS score athlete that could use his size to frame out cover 3 corners. He never lived up to his ability for various reasons, including a lack of dynamic ability and special teams contributions. Boykin was a better athlete but it didn't translate to deep route running prowess, he was productive on post routes from narrow alignments with several big plays but CJ has an advantage in that his speed translates through efficient adjustments to his vertical stems and he is quick off the line even if his release package lacks options. The league has moved on from base cover 3 as a coverage but they still like to get there especially with rotating corners into a deep half alignment and I think Johnson can be a threat that can limit what teams can play against him abd that is a great asset to have in your WR room. Look for CJ to be a matchup guy who can come in against teams like the Browns and Chiefs and keep them from getting to their full arsenal of coverage rotations. Greg Roman and the scouts saw something Cornelius that meant they didn’t want to risk missing out on him and I think this role is where they want him to grow into.

Additionally for a bit of fun; he is exactly the same in almost every physical way as Cordarrelle Patterson (99% match on Mockdraftable which is absurd) even though they couldn't be more opposite as players.

Pick Assessment:

As with every player taken at the bottom of the   pick was all about not risking him being lost to other teams as a priority UDFA. I've made the argument before that players taken here are considered more valuable than those taken at the top of the 7th because you're saying we can't afford to let this guy go to another team. According to the consensus board, Harbaugh wasn’t just being a homer by taking another Michigan man, as Johnson's overall consensus rank was 194th as the WR28, yet he was taken as the WR35 at 253rd overall. I had CJ higher than that at WR21 but I did not watch 35 wide receivers in this class because, frankly, I have a life outside of football, so my rankings can't compare like for like. What I can add to the evaluation of value is the role he projects to play and the traits he possesses that put him above a backend 7th rounder; as I've said if he can focus on being a deep field X receiver that excels at blocking I believe he can make an impact within his first two years. This is a narrow window to hit and I hope he has the coaches attention and the personal long aimed focus to do so as he is almost 24 and can't afford to wait for development to come in other areas that he doesn't seem to have the movement skills to pull off.