Some players dislike the franchise tag, but Rams cornerback Trumaine Johnson is just fine with making a guaranteed salary of $16.7 million this season.
Johnson has signed his one-year, $16.7 million franchise tender, Peter Schrager of NFL Network reports.
The $16.7 million Johnson is scheduled to make for 2017 would be the second-most of any cornerback in the NFL this year, behind only the $24 million Josh Norman will make in Washington this year between his salary and bonuses. It’s still possible that Johnson and the Rams could work out a long-term deal, but if not, Johnson is guaranteed that base salary, which works out to about $983,000 a week for all 17 weeks of the regular season.
The Rams took Johnson out of Montana with a third-round pick in the 2012 NFL draft. Last year in Los Angeles he started 14 games, and the team views him as an important part of what it hopes is building a winning team after many years of losing for the franchise.