My God would this guy be a perfect fit for us and a perfect situation for his future draft prospects.
Cory, you stand to make far more money if you come here, play on a 2014 defense packed to the brim with talent, and are drafted to do exactly what you'll be asked to do here: thereby lowering the risk for an NFL franchise and increasing your draft stock ($).
Let's do this.
How do you project Cory Johnson fitting in along our scheme? You alluded to it in the bold above and with the Randy Starks comparison, but I'd appreciate it if you'd spell it out. I love his talent but have struggled to put a finger on exactly how I think he would best be utilized.
He's big, quick and explosive. He has long arms. I've never seen him in person or talked to him, so what I can tell you is highly speculative. I'm basically commenting on whatever is available in the internet and based on what the staff has felt about the kid. In these clips and the ones in the past, you see him doing some slipping and attacking gaps
/ in our scheme, mostly), but you also see him bench press some of the (admittedly lesser) OL. He looks like he can play the Luther Robinson role or play Nose. I compared his attributes to Randy Starks because of those reasons. Just a talented, aggressive and versatile guy.
Other than Pierre, we don't have anyone on the roster who matches all of that, and it scares me that Pierre might be thrust into the Curtis Porter role next year in order to make up for it. That means we'd, at best, "stagnate" at two positions - kinda like when Brandon Washington played LT here. If we don't get a guy who can play for Curtis Porter next year, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Pierre tried at that spot and Kamalu step into the Pierre role.
One thing, though, Golden pulling Renfo's out of his hat was another reason to just trust these guys know their plan and what is needed to fit it. I just don't know how many Renfro's we can pull out, and realistically, we need more than a Renfro next year. Earl Moore, Stuckey, King, and even Valentine can play that limited Renfro role. Someone has to try to match the Porter impact.