How important is Paris Johnson Jr. to the Arizona Cardinals’ offense in 2024?
we did on one of your vacations Kell Olson was in here that sounded like a backhanded comment and it was um he he brought up this question of you know what what player if you could have any any player if you could up their season this upcoming season you could just up their ratings on Madden who would you choose and we him and I did independently he picked BJ oari I picked Paris Johnson Jr and then when you you came back I asked you kind of a similar question and you also said Paris Johnson Jr so you and I are on the same page on this one I don’t think anything goes until like it’s like a car and you’ve built up this car that could maybe win a race but he’s the ignition like if if you can’t start the car nothing else really matters that’s that’s exactly right um when you talk about your concerns going into training camp based on R I think you have to talk about left tackle you have to talk about that why con concern or question mark it’s a question mark and therefore it’s a concern because you don’t have the answer on it right now okay and and not because I think Paris Johnson Jr can’t handle that position but because that position is integral to having a good offensive line would you say left tackle is important in terms of having a good offensive line based in audience yes of course and the only thing I see derailing the Arizona Cardinal surprise season is not having a good offensive line why do you think that is stop and think about it why with that well first of all it’s because the Arizona Cardinal offense is going to be the strength of this team it is there’s no way to to to parse it that’s going to be the strength of this team I’m saying listen the defense is going to be better there’s no doubt about it the defense will be better my question is how much better can the defense actually be if they could just move up to being average that would be a huge slam dunk for this team if you ask me be because their offense is the key and the reason being is because look at the guys they have offensively Kyler Murray James Conor Trey McBride Marvin Harrison Jr Trey Benson Michael Wilson Greg dorch look all these guys have potential all these guys I think are are going to be good in terms of skill players but none of that matters if you don’t have an offensive line that is good enough to let your skill players do what they do does that make sense there’s a lot to it even on top of what you just said I mean look certainly if your offensive line isn’t good you’re not winning you’re not winning I mean I I I know that we’re not all looking at the Cardinals and expecting a Super Bowl this season but I don’t I guess you can make the playoffs with a shaky offensive line but then you you better have Patrick Mahomes in an amazing defense um and I’m I’m quite certain if you go back over the last however many years you’re not going to find a lot of Super Bowl champs that had offensive line issues but on top of that like this is this is Monty Austin fort’s first ever pick this is a top 10 pick in the draft you traded back up to draft Paris Johnson Jr people just think well yeah they traded down they did trade down they also trade it back up to get him yeah so they already have a lot invested in him anyway but yes I’m I’m in lock step with you on this one for this season all of the excitement dissipates if he can’t be Paris Johnson Jr yes you listen you don’t need the best offensive line in the league you don’t need that Bas Onan what you need is an offensive line good enough to allow your skill to do what they do period how much do you put into the fact that he played every snap last season like how how much credit do you give him for that or how much of that do you think is luck there’s no doubt about it um there’s a little bit of good fortune that is definitely there yeah for for any player that takes every snap plays every snap you had to be kidding me especially at that position like if Guys somebody can just fall into you like ridiculous yeah the fact that he did that that bodess well but also he was nicked up Paris Johnson Jr was nicked up every player is nicked up when you get to anywhere close of the halfway point of the Season you’re nicked up as a player for the most part having said that um he went out and he played there was a little toughness that was displayed by Paris Johnson Jr um the question is are you going to be able to make the adjustment to playing left tackle I know you have Jonah Williams I know you could always flop him over there but that’s not ideal that’s not what they want to do they want Paris Johnson Jr to be the left tackle and you need a good left tackle if you want to have a solid offensive line doesn’t that just show that that’s why they drafted him was to ultimately be the left what you just said they could play Joan Williams on the left side yeah they could do that yeah but that’s not what they want to do because they just drafted this guy with the top 10 pick and he was a left tackle in college and he went to Ohio State it’s not like he was playing at some small school you drafted him with the intention of him being your franchise left tackle yes left tackle is integral to the offensive line and Paris Johnson Jr hasn’t played there and that’s why bason oans it’s a question mark and why I need to see it you have to I think he’s going to be fine he’s got everything you need to be a great left tackle but until you do it bro in this league you’re a question mark until you do it here he is on NFL network uh early earlier this month talking about the move I think just personally just year two um just being able to fulfill all the expectations that I have for myself the expectations that the team has for me being here um you know my goal ultimately to go is to be is to um be the best tackle in the game and then obviously playing with the guys we have on this team you know being able to have Marv as a weapon um um I think is just explosive um I just love the guys we have on our offense and I expect this offense to be one of the top in the country so how about I love this kid man I’ll set aside the the he expects the offense to be one of the top in the country because that’s a little bit bigger than where I was going to go with this but how about just the simple idea what if he’s right what if he is one of the best tackles in the NFL in a year or two I mean they did draft him that’s where you draft a guy that you expect to be one of the best offensive tackles it’s not crazy that he could have that in him yeah it’s not crazy at all but he is making the switch from right tackle to left tackle right now and we all understand that is a big deal Bas on means it is it’s hard unless he is ambidextrious and I don’t believe that he is edex Trias it’s a big deal and you still get right defensive ends that line up and the vast majority of the time they’re still the best pass rusher on the team why because there’s so many right-handed quarterbacks in the league and you want that Blindside attack that’s why you still get your best pass rusher a vast majority of the times lining up as the right defensive end over the left tackle there’s still a premium on that position even though in today’s NFL you need oh my goodness you need two really good tackles or you’re just not going to have a an offensive line that is going to be able to protect a quarterback very well if you don’t have two solid tackles and that’s why once again the question mark is there for this offensive line but man there’s a lot of skill there’s a lot of skill that is there now it’s skill that has to prove it hey Trey McBride and even Trey will say this to you Trey McBride has to prove it all over again he had a breakout season last year there’s no doubt about that but Trey you know it as well as anybody do not ever ever assume that you’re things are going to go the way that they did for you last year and the best part is Trey knows that this is what I love about this kid his sensitivities are are there and he wants to prove all over again that he’s great and that he’s good and that he can do it what do you make of the maybe this was unavoidable but like Paris Johnson Jr has been asked about this move to left tackle a lot this off season and that that was the national cut right there we were playing from NFL Network what do you make of the fact that Jonathan Ganon didn’t hide it you know CU originally he said I’m not I’m not going to say and then remember at the start of I think it was at the start of ta He just flat out said you know what yeah Paris is going to be on the left side and and he was even asked by a couple of the reporters like hey I thought you said you weren’t going to tell us like well no I’m telling you so that Jonathan Ganon got way out in front of this there there was no like oh we’re going to hide this it’s not going to be a story until it’s a great it’s a great question why right there’s got to be a reason why and maybe it’s because he didn’t he wanted to get all this stuff out of the way and all the questions Paris is going to have to answer about it in May and June and July as opposed to September and October I think it was always something that was going to happen to me at least in the wolf League compound we looked at it and said you don’t take a guy number six overall and suddenly you have an opening at left tackle you don’t move that guy to left tackle now again that’s where he’s going to start and they do have a fallback In Jonah Williams because he has played left that’s kind of where I was going with that I wonder if another reason Ganon did that was like we’re going to make him the left tackle we’re doing this like we’re going to be decisive definitive we’re not hiding this like everybody’s going know we’re doing it if if I were Monty ausen for where I drafted this guy number six overall you better believe I want him out there and he’s going to be giving every opportunity to prove that he’s not our love tackle thanks for watching wolf and Luke tap to see more and click the button in the middle to subscribe to Arizona Sports
A solid offensive line will be key to the success of the Arizona Cardinals this coming season. Wolf & Luke shine the spotlight on Cardinals offensive lineman Paris Johnson Jr., who is looking to be a strong piece for the team up front.
Video: Felisa Cárdenas and Ed Cole/Arizona Sports
Photo Credit: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images, David Eulitt/Getty Images
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