Las Vegas Raiders sign FB Jakob Johnson who formerly played in New England
The Las Vegas Raiders sign FB Jakob Johnson, the German fullback from the New England Patriots. Johnson spent the past three seasons with the Pats after joining the team as part of the NFL’s International Player Pathway Program. Johnson had been part of the German Football League in 2018 where he played for the Stuttgart Scorpions.
The announcement was made official on Thursday, March 17 as the Las Vegas Raiders sign FB Jakob Johnson to a one-year contract worth $1,500,000. The 6’ 3”, 255-pound fullback has appeared in 37 games with 20 starts and recorded 13 catches for 83 yards and a touchdown.
Johnson supposedly had mentioned with a German news agency that the New England Patriots did not plan to use a fullback for the 2022 season. Though the news seemed like the Pats wanted to let go of him, Pats head coach Belichick only had high praise for the 27-year-old fullback.
“He came a long way, probably amongst the furthest that I’ve ever coached–probably in the top five anyway,” stated Belichick. “This year [2021], he was light years ahead of where he was last year in the spring, and that gave him a lot of confidence and gave us a lot of confidence in terms of what he could do, what his skills were and the adjustments he was able to make and so forth.”
Johnson is a native of Stuttgart, Germany who came to the U.S. and attended The University of Tennessee for four years between 2014–17. In college, the fullback started as a linebacker before switching to tight end as a sophomore. He played in 47 games, catching three passes for 23 yards, making 24 tackles on defense, and returning two kickoffs for 25 yards.
As the Las Vegas Raiders sign FB Jakob Johnson, who played all games in both the 2020 and 2021 seasons, it’s likely that head coach Josh McDaniels has something up his sleeve while bringing in his former players [Brandon Bolden] on the same day.