Coming from Gary, Indiana and playing at the University of Toledo, wide receiver Jon’Vea Johnson has developed an underdog mentality.
As an undrafted free agent with the Dallas Cowboys, Johnson believes that allows him to play a free-wheeling style that highlights his strengths on the football field.
“I have a grinding mentality,” Johnson said in a video interview on the Cowboys website. “... I already have come from nothing, so I already have that chip on my shoulder to come in and show them what I can do. I might not get a lot of publicity, but I play to my advantage. I play to where I know I can go out and do my thing.”
Johnson has benefited from the fact his father Jason Johnson had a three-year NFL career of his own as a wide receiver with the Denver Broncos, Pittsburgh Steelers, and New Orleans Saints.
Leaning on the advice of his dad, who went through the rigors of trying to make an NFL roster, has helped Johnson with the day-to-day approach he needs to have at training camp with the Cowboys.
“My dad also played in the league, so I kind of learned how to prepare all of my life,” Johnson said. “I learned to never get too low or get too high and just stuff like that. That just came a long way since I was a kid.”
Johnson wasn’t invited to the NFL Combine, but he put on a show at Toledo’s Pro Day and got back on the radar of NFL teams. His physical tools are apparent to Cowboys wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal, who says Johnson still has room to grow in the mental aspect of the game.
“He has shown the skill set that if he ever gets it mentally, you can tell he does things that are beyond coaching,” Lal said in a video interview on the Cowboys’ website. “He’s a very talented, unique, smooth receiver with juice. Once he gets it, he’s going to be a really good player.”
Johnson says he has learned a lot from practicing alongside veteran receivers like Randall Cobb and Amari Cooper.
He will get a chance to prove himself on the field when the Cowboys play their first preseason game on Saturday. The bright lights of game action are nothing to shy away from for Johnson.
“I tell my dad all the time that I try to stay above the moment and not let the moment get above me,” Johnson said. “I always want to go out there and play my game that I’ve been playing since I was six years old. It shouldn’t be different mentally. Physically it will be different, but mentally it will be the same. I just want to show the ability that I have and take the top off of the defense and just go out there and ball.”
First Published August 9, 2019, 7:01 p.m.
