Jaguars' Antonio Johnson's Chances in a Crowded Position Room

The bubble for an NFL franchise is not something that anybody can see or touch, but it's a concept that players definitely can feel and fear. It's almost like those categorized as such are in a football purgatory, so to speak.

On a recent episode of the Jacksonville Jaguars Insider Podcast, Beat Writer John Shipley revealed his list of Jags that could go either way when the preseason concludes. Antonio Johnson was the lead name.

Shipley was adamant on the show that he doesn't know if the franchise feels that Johnson is on the bubble, but due to the safety room being extremely crowded, and sometimes that is due to an overload of talent, the third-year man out of Texas A&M could be a victiim of numbers and circumstance.

"As things stand today, somebody who definitely needs a strong training camp, who's on the bubble a little bit is Antonio Johnson. And when I say on the bubble, I mean, from my perspective, I'm not saying the franchise sees them on the bubble. That would be very presumptuous of me, and I'm not gonna go there whatsoever."

"But in terms of Antonio Johnson, just look at what the Jaguars did at safety this offseason. They signed Eric Murray. They drafted Caleb Ransaw. They drafted Rayuan Lane, who, in my opinion, can be a special teams phenom as a rookie. Add in the fact that you already have Darnell Savage, you already have Andrew Wingard, two guys [with] a lot of starting experience. Daniel Thomas, obviously, I think he's relatively safe because, you know, he is so good on special teams," explained Shipley.

"It's a tough safety room. It really is. I mean, even keeping both rookies they drafted, plus the special teams guys, plus Savage and Murray, that'd be keeping six safeties. That's a lot. But Johnson, very well, could be the sixth, seventh safety in line. And you know, for the record, I think he has a lot of talent. I really do. He flashed a lot as a rookie, and last year was a tough year."

"Last year, in my opinion, a lot was put on the safeties because of how the style of play was designed for the defense, that the safety just had to be the ultimate last line of defense. And I'm just not sure of Antonio Johnson's game. His game is moving forward, you know, as a blitzer in the box, you know, covering tight ends on short routes. You know, not necessarily a guy who's going to be very good playing deep downfield, which seemed like what [the] Jaguars are trying to get out of [him]."

Besides having skills, the bubble designation also is on the safety due to General Manger James Gladstone's selection of two more at the position in April,

"So I think he's a really talented player. I think he has a lot of potential. It's just they added so much that safety room this year that, you know, obviously Caleb Ransaw is making the team, and I'm not sure they're going to want to move on from Lane, because they want their rookie class to, you know, really have an impact. So Johnson's talent is clear. I think he has the talent to be on a 53-man roster, but it is a very crowded safety room as things stand today."