Read the full transcript from CB Chris Johnson's media availability on August 2, 2026.
Can you take us through that interception, what you saw on that play? What led to the interception?
Chris Johnson: Yeah really just playing my coverage, man. I started off in a bunch motion to just a stack, so I get to comms from the safety. Obviously we all on the same page know what we're doing, so you know I cover the guy I'm supposed to cover and just make a play.
We see you going back and forth between the nickel and the outside. Give us some inside scoop on just how that happens. Like, do they tap you on the shoulder, you know when to go? Like just walk us through that?
Chris Johnson: Honestly it's still kind of in the works just because when I come on the field, the corner might think I'm coming to take him out or it's just a little bit of confusion, but we just trying to get the comms, hand signals, whatever it is going, just so we could get everything right, make sure we have 11 players on the field.
I'm talking about individual like individual drills. Like, do they tap on the shoulder? How do you know when to go back?
Chris Johnson: [DeShawn] Shead just tapped me early, said 'you'll be with the nickels real quick. After that, you go back with the corners.' I'm like, cool.
How was that, I guess? How do you switch your brain on and off to go do both?
Chris Johnson: I'll say in OTAs, it was more like a switch, but now it's not really a switch. It's kind of just that's what I'm playing at this moment. It's really one and the same to me now. It's starting to get more a lot more comfortable with it.
Day away from the first day of pads. Mentally, what does that do to you as a football player? Does it feel like more like this is the real thing?
Chris Johnson: Definitely turns it up a little bit. But I've been 100 percent focused from OTAs till now. Just because we throw a little bit of pads on, it's going to be a little more physical, but at the end of the day, it's the same ball we've been playing.
What leads to the entire defense doing push-ups with the head coach after practice like that?
Chris Johnson: So that last period we do a little competition period. I think it was out of 13 today. It ended up being tied six to six. Defense was at the advantage at first with it being third-and-10. We jump offside, offense gets a redo. Third-and-5, they end up throwing a bomb and completing it, so defense loses that day 7-6. We do our 20 push-ups, yeah, just a little competition end of the day.
JuJu Brents is a young veteran. What stands out about him to you?
Chris Johnson: Just how calm he is and collected within himself. Definitely a place where I'm trying to get to where whether you make a play or you don't, it's not too high, not too low. Just kind of being able to stay calm and understanding you made that play because you did good or you didn't make that play because you were messed up somewhere.
You mentioned the competition and Coach Hafley said something about it earlier today that he told you guys, okay, this is going to be competitive. So what actually does that mean? It means like, loser has to do push-ups? Winner gets some kind of price?
Chris Johnson: Yeah, I'd say the prize is just no push-ups. It's not really like ice cream or something, but loser definitely got push-ups. [Friday], we beat the offense, today they got us back. A couple days ago, whatever – last practice. Today, they got us, so we're looking forward to taking the lead back tomorrow.
What do the fans kind of bring to the atmosphere here?
Chris Johnson: Definitely energy. Definitely energy which is good. It's nice to be out here hearing more voices than just us and the coaches. I love a good energy, so that definitely made practice more turnt up today.
As a rookie, is there anything you have to do to keep yourself not getting too high, not getting too low again? If you have an interception today, not getting too high off that? If someone beats you another day, no getting too low?
Chris Johnson: I'll say a lot less than I used to be when I was younger. Like back in my younger days at school, it was definitely an issue for me. But now, like you mentioned JuJu (Brents) and I'm just trying to fall under those guys like the rest of the guys in the room, they all stay calm in certain situations. I'm just trying to keep that a part of my game as well.
What's it like to go through this with such a rookie laden roster, such a draft class this team had?
Chris Johnson: It's cool man, because I'm really close with a lot of the rooks. We were here before everybody, and we stayed a little longer when everybody went on break. So we just been able to bond. It's cool seeing like my boys out there on the field with me. As a team, we're just growing closer, man, and it's starting to feel like home for sure.
When you play on the inside, there's obviously a lot of space you have to cover compared to being on the outside. But when you got Jason Marshall Jr. and JuJu Brents who can both play press up and really disrupt timing that way, how much does that kind of ease your mind about the space you have to cover inside when you've got two good press players outside?
Chris Johnson: It definitely helps just being able to take certain things away from the field. If they can mess up timing out there, then I know that it's a lot more traffic out there for the slot receiver to get to. So just being able to understand and depend on the guys outside, the guys inside, the guys down on the line of scrimmage helps me play more calm and understand what leverage I should take.
Coach Hafley talked today about the emphasis on the turnovers, specifically how you start every individual drill with a specific turnover period. Just how refreshing is that? But then also, is that new? Cause that's something we certainly haven't seen before.
Chris Johnson: Yeah, so back in school, we did that all the time too. Just really start the day doing what we need to do. Offense goes and does their drills to protect the ball, and defense goes and does drills to take away the ball, and that's something that's emphasized throughout practice. That being one of our main goals is to take the ball away on defense, I'm glad that we take a little bit of time to work on that specifically.
What do you like about Jacob Rodriguez's game, especially now maybe what you're saying he can punch the ball out?
Chris Johnson: He's just a boy man, like everything about his game, even since college. I knew about him in college, he was a big name there, but really just he's relentless, man. He has a crazy story. He wasn't even playing linebacker when he first went to college. Stuff like that, just the perseverance he's been through to the point where he is now, he's really calm with himself and he understands what to do on the defense to be out there, give us the play call, help lead the defense.
How would you describe his personality?
Chris Johnson: He's a cool guy. Definitely a guy I would like to go out with and hang out with, and we've done so before. Real funny guy, calm. We got very similar humor, so we get along really well.
Unserious here, for work, we're doing a series on what rookies are spending their first check on. So once that direct deposit came through, what was the first purchase that you made?
Chris Johnson: First purchase was a crib. Just wanted to settle down here. This is where I'm gonna be and this is where I want to be, so definitely had to put down on the crib.
