{"id":49427,"date":"2024-04-27T23:39:33","date_gmt":"2024-04-28T04:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=49427"},"modified":"2024-04-27T23:39:33","modified_gmt":"2024-04-28T04:39:33","slug":"xavier-johnson-reportedly-signs-with-buffalo-bills-as-undrafted-free-agent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/xavier-johnson-reportedly-signs-with-buffalo-bills-as-undrafted-free-agent\/","title":{"rendered":"Xavier Johnson reportedly signs with Buffalo Bills as undrafted free agent"},"content":{"rendered":"

COLUMBUS \u2014 Xavier Johnson<\/a> signed with the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent Saturday, according to Bleacher Report\u2019s Jordan Schultz<\/a>. The former Ohio State wide receiver will be fighting an uphill battle to make the 53-man roster, but Johnson has a history of beating the odds.<\/p>\n

READ: Xavier Johnson\u2019s Ohio State journey has prepared him for uphill battle to NFL roster<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Johnson started his Buckeyes career as a walk-on from Summit County Day in Cincinnati. <\/p>\n

He was put on scholarship in 2021, and he finished his Buckeyes career in 2023 as a team captain and the recipient of the \u201cBlock O\u201d jersey, which is given to an Ohio State player who represents the toughness, accountability and high character displayed by Buckeyes legend Bill Willis, an All-American and national champion defensive end in the \u201940s that later went on to break the color barrier in the NFL.<\/p>\n

Johnson entered the NFL Draft as a wide receiver, however, he was a Swiss Army knife \u2014 otherwise known as \u201cweapon X\u201d \u2014 at Ohio State, where he first played defensive back and then seesawed back and forth from the wide receiver and running back rooms.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-1, 210-pound playmaker broke out in 2022, right from the get-go actually. Johnson clinched a season-opening win over Notre Dame with a clutch touchdown reception. He delivered another timely score, thanks to a highlight-reel spin move, in the Peach Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal versus Georgia.<\/p>\n

He logged 297 yards and tree total touchdowns from scrimmage that season. Sandwiched between the aforementioned touchdowns was a zig-zagging, 71-yard run to the end zone against Indiana.<\/p>\n

Johnson also recovered blocked punts back-to-back weeks, flexing his heads-up special teams play. Special teams, after all, are where Johnson piled up close to 900 snaps in his career. <\/p>\n

He averaged 22 yards per kick return each of his last two seasons at Ohio State. In his sixth and final year, he didn\u2019t score, yet he did register a career-high 368 yards from scrimmage. <\/p>\n

His versatility, both on special teams and offense, gives Johnson a better chance than most undrafted free agents to carve out a role for himself in training camp.<\/p>\n

A chance is all Johnson needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a dream come true,\u201d Johnson said of his journey after Ohio State\u2019s Pro Day in March. \u201cFrom when I was a little kid, I\u2019ve wanted to play football at the professional level. I started playing football when I was 5, I\u2019ve never missed a season. So it\u2019s been the love of my life for the last 19 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo look back on that as a little kid out there playing and practicing with my older brother, getting his drills and different things like that, and fast forward all the way to this point, this process has been surreal. It\u2019s been nothing short of a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recruiting background on Xavier Johnson<\/h2>\n

On3 Industry Ranking (2018 Recruiting Class):\u00a0<\/strong>No. 808 nationally, No. 137 WR, No. 36 Ohio<\/em><\/p>\n

On3 Industry Ranking Star Rating:\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>3-star prospect<\/em><\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s unorthodox yet inspiring Buckeyes career started with him joining the program as a preferred walk-on. Before that, he was a standout player at Summit County Day in Cincinnati, where he scored rushing, receiving, kickoff return, punt return and interception return touchdowns as a senior. The three-star prospect accounted for 766 receiving yards, 623 rushing yards and a combined 18 offensive touchdowns that season. He committed to the Buckeyes as a preferred walk-on with the intention of playing defensive back. He wound up in the receiving room. After that, he moved to the running back room. Then he pivoted back and forth between the two, all while contributing on special teams.<\/p>\n

Johnson held scholarship offers from Cincinnati, Miami (Ohio), Ball State, Iowa State, Western Kentucky, Bowling Green, Kent State, Ohio, Akron and Buffalo, as well as FCS powerhouse North Dakota State. As mentioned above, though, rather than taking any of those offers, Johnson bet on himself at Ohio State.<\/p>\n

The post Xavier Johnson reportedly signs with Buffalo Bills as undrafted free agent<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COLUMBUS \u2014 Xavier Johnson signed with the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent Saturday,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49427"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49460,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49427\/revisions\/49460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}