Charles Johnson: Road to the Vikings Is One Very Few Have Traveled
Austin Belisle
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[Editor’s Note: As you all know, it’s important to us at Vikings Territory to provide a platform for voices other than ours to be heard through Guest Posts. This time around, we’re welcoming Adam Patrick, who currently writes about the Vikings at Pro Football Spot. You can follow Adam on Twitter at @Str8_Cash_Homey, and make sure to be on the lookout for more of his work!]
At 12:45 am on Monday July 7, 2014, Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Jerome Simpson was pulled over by police on Bush Lake Road in Bloomington, Minnesota. During the traffic stop, Simpson was given citations for possession of marijuana, violating the guidelines for driving on a limited license, and for driving while in possession of an open bottle of alcohol.
A few months later, on September 18, Simpson was informed that his services were no longer needed by the Vikings as the team had decided to release him. With Simpson’s release, Minnesota now had an open spot on its roster.
Before he landed with the Vikings in 2014, Minnesota’s offensive coordinator Norv Turner had spent the previous season running the offense for the Cleveland Browns. When Simpson’s release created an opening on the Vikings roster, Turner had a very good idea of who the team should consider bringing into Minnesota to fill that spot.
At the time of Simpson’s release, Charles Johnson was a young wide receiver awaiting his call up to the big leagues as a member of the Browns practice squad. Turner and his son, current Vikings quarterback coach Scott Turner, had developed an admiration for Johnson when they were all in Cleveland in 2013.
The Vikings and head coach Mike Zimmer had faith in the Turner’s recommendation of Johnson and decided to offer the young receiver a contract. Despite the Browns still wanting to keep Johnson in Cleveland, the opportunity to work with the Turners ultimately became the determining factor in Johnson’s decision to sign with Minnesota.
Signing with the Vikings was Johnson’s latest step in his long journey to the NFL. A journey that began almost 11 hours away from his current employer in Minnesota.
A receiver reverses field
Johnson was born in small town in Kentucky known as Elsmere. The town has a population of a little over 8,000 people, but that did not prevent Johnson from making a name for himself on the football field.
Coming out of high school at 6’2″ and 170 pounds, Johnson had originally planned to attend the University of Louisville. Unfortunately, he was unable to attend the school due to his grades not being satisfactory enough at the time of National Signing Day.
Instead, he began his college career in 2007 at Eastern Kentucky. He played in 11 games for the team during the 2007 season that eventually ended up being his last season playing Division I college football.
After deciding not to tattle on his roommate at EKU for being in possession of a stolen laptop, Johnson found himself suspended by the university. Unable to play the game he was brought into the school to play, he decided to transfer to Antelope Valley Community College, not far from Los Angeles, California.
In what would be his lone season playing for AVCC, Johnson caught 24 passes for 231 yards and three touchdowns. After hearing that his father’s health was deteriorating back in Kentucky, Johnson decided to leave Los Angeles and move back home to help take care of his father.
2009 was a year without football for Johnson. He still attended classes at a local school to continue his education, but spent the majority of his time working at Arby’s and Olive Garden to help provide for his family.
A year later, Johnson’s father’s health was improving and the young receiver was getting the itch to get back on the football field again. A quick Google search helped Johnson discover his next stop in Division II football — Grand Valley State, a collegiate powerhouse.
His time spent at GVSU is where Johnson began to hone his skills and evolve into the player he has become today. During his two years at the school, Johnson became a dominant force on the field.
In two seasons at GVSU, he caught 128 passes for 2,229 yards and 31 touchdowns. In the final game of his college career, Johnson hauled in 10 passes for 198 yards and four touchdowns.
Practice squad no more
Coming out of a Division II school, Johnson’s chances of being selected in the 2013 NFL Draft were not as high as those of similar skill sets who had attended Division I programs. It was looking grim going into the last day of the draft, and Johnson still had not been selected by any teams.
The seventh and final round of the draft began and a few picks into the round, it was announced that the Green Bay Packers had decided to select Johnson with the 216th pick. Johnson was going to be lining up next to Packers receivers Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb and catching passes from Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Of course he would have like to be selected higher, but for Johnson, it was another opportunity to prove his value as receiver regardless of where he played college football or where he was chosen in the draft. Mel Kiper Jr. of ESPN praised the Packers selection of the young receiver, and even went as far to say that Johnson was a potential sleeper pick for Green Bay.
Johnson did not do enough to impress the Packers in the offseason, and therefore, did not make the opening day active roster. Instead, Green Bay signed him to their practice squad, which also left the door open to other teams around the league to sign Johnson.
Of course, that is exactly what happened, as he was signed by the Cleveland Browns in October 2013. Johnson barely had enough time to unpack his suitcase in Green Bay before becoming a member of two NFL teams.
Now in Cleveland, Johnson was hoping to get some actual playing time during his rookie season. However, those dreams were cut short when during his initial physical, it was revealed by Browns team doctors that Johnson had a torn ACL and would miss the entire 2013 season.
What would be a huge blow to most seemed like another obstacle for Johnson to conquer in his journey to the NFL. Once he was able to regain his full health in the summer of 2014, Johnson was back to impressing coaches and teammates with his freak athleticism.
He was hoping to impress the Browns staff enough to put him on the team’s opening day roster in 2014, but for some reason, Cleveland did not feel he was quite ready for a spot on the active roster, and instead, signed him to their practice squad.
Once again, Johnson was on an NFL team’s practice squad and able to sign with another team. Little did he know, his time in Cleveland would soon be coming to an end thanks to some old friends in Norv and Scott Turner.
Fast forward to today, where Johnson is one of the Vikings’ two starting receivers and is coming off a season that caused Norv to call him Minnesota’s, “best receiver.” For once, it seems like all of Johnson’s hard work is paying off.
This season with the Vikings will be the first in which Johnson will not be starting the year on a team’s practice squad. Minnesota may have a budding star receiver on their hands in Johnson, and it seems safe to say that his days of playing on the practice squad are more than over.