In an interview with former Penn State TE Adam Breneman, who was the Big Ten Network’s sideline reporter for this year’s Blue-White Game, fellow former Penn State TE Theo Johnson predicted that he’d go late in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
While he ended up sliding a little, Johnson was still one of the first players taken on day three. Johnson, who played TE at Penn State for four seasons, went to the New York Giants with the 107th pick in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
The Windsor, Ontario, Canada native certainly helped himself at this year’s NFL Combine in Indianapolis.
At 6 foot 6 and 260 pounds, Johnson ran the 40 in 4.58 seconds.
https://x.com/PennStateFball/status/1763732369251385447?s=20
But wait, there’s more! Let’s break it down.
Kent Lee Platte of the Pro Football Network created something called RAS, which is a system that grades athletes in Combine activities from 1 to 10.
In the three categories Platte broke down for Johnson, he scored “great” in composite size and “elite” in both composite explosion grade– which measures his vertical leap (39.5) and broad jump (1005). Johnson’s speed also came in at Elite.
In total, Johnson scored a 10 out of 10,which is the best any tight end has scored since the Combine began in 1987 out of 1,105 options.
https://x.com/MathBomb/status/1763734388510949437?s=20
Platte clarified that the 10 of 10 likely wouldn’t stand “mostly because of math.”
“Since I’m not at home, I can’t add all this data to the main database and run against that, so the data is not REALLy part of the DB yet. Drives averages down slightly.”
The Combine gave Johnson an opportunity to show what he could do before people who never watched him play at Penn State.
Johnson ended the 2023 regular season with 32 catches for 325 yards and six touchdowns, finishing second on the team in all three categories.
Additionally, he was one of Penn State’s most important voices, which he worked to become over the offseason due his feeling that the team needed him to be a vocal leader.
