Patrick Peterson, one of the best cornerbacks in Cardinals' history, was at the podium in Green Bay on Friday night to announce the team's second-round pick.
It turned out to be another guy whom the Cardinals hope will turn into a difference-maker at cornerback.
"I used to watch his Cardinal highlights when I was a young kid," Michigan's Will Johnson said after the he was the 47th overall pick in the draft. "Seeing him make my pick, I feel like that means something. I'm hoping to be a legend in that Cardinals uniform like he was"
Getting to Arizona didn't go the way Johnson planned, however. Projected as a surefire first-round pick – many mocked Johnson to the Cardinals with the No. 16 overall selection – Johnson was left until the middle of the second round.
He was admittedly angry about it.
"One of those things that motivates you more than anything else," Johnson said. "I know I'm healthy."
Johnson missed half of the Wolverines' season in 2024 with a turf toe injury and also a shoulder issue. He also said he didn't understand questions that surfaced about his knee; it hadn't been a problem for two years.
Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort said they used the same process to vet Johnson's medicals as any other player; the team has no concerns. They just saw a player who had elite coverage instincts and the intelligence to play in a defense that asks cornerbacks to see a lot pre-snap.
"I completely understand his emotions, but he'll quickly realize once he steps in the building it's not where you get drafted, it's what you do with it," Gannon said.
During his healthy 2023 season when the Wolverines won a national title, Johnson gave up only 17 receptions on 37 targets all season, and no touchdowns. He was a first-team All-American.
Johnson had nine interceptions in 32 career games for Michigan, returning three of them for touchdowns. He called himself a shutdown corner and a game-changer, and "that's what I'm coming in to do right away."
"I'm where I need to be," Johnson said. "I'm happy to be a Cardinal now."
Gannon was deluged with texts from his players after the Johnson pick, thrilled the Cardinals had taken him. First-round selection Walter Nolen III asked for Johnson's number, and Gannon sent it along, warning Nolen that Johnson wasn't in the best mood.
Nolen's response? "Don't worry coach. I'll talk to him."
"This will be a close-knit team, they have been for two years, and we will continue to add people who will add to that," Gannon said.
The cornerback room has been flooded since Gannon – a long-time defensive backs coach – arrived, with the team drafting Garrett Williams, Max Melton, Elijah Jones and Kei'Trel Clark, finding Starling Thomas V on waivers and signing Sean Murphy-Bunting.
But the Cardinals drafting another in the second round wasn't a shock.
"It's about winning," Williams said before the draft. "Whatever they feel like helps us win the most that is what it's going to be. It doesn't make me feel any type of way, because we are all trying to win. That's the whole point of being here. Whoever it is, whether it is corner, linebacker, D-lineman, whatever it is, I know they are being brought in to help."
That will be the message for Johnson, who trained in Arizona before the draft and golfed with new Cardinals teammate Marvin Harrison Jr., to the point they talked about ending up on the same NFL team.
But for now, he'll absorb the joy of finding his pro home while getting past the frustration of falling further than he ever expected.
"It is one of those nightmares you never want to have happen," said Johnson, who is certain he will end up as the steal of the draft. "But it'll make a better situation out of everything, so I'm not too worried about it now. I'm ready to go prove it."
"I'm on a mission now," he added. "It definitely woke me up for sure."
NO TRADES FOR MONTI
Ossenfort said the Cardinals got offers when they were going to pick at 47, but they decided they would rather choose Johnson than move back and get an extra draft pick. The same thing happened when the Cardinals were on the clock at No. 78, when they again eschewed any offers and took Oregon linebacker Jordan Burch with their third-round pick.
