Former Brown Although John Johnson III claims he has no ill will towards Cleveland, he nevertheless made a social media statement.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — It didn’t take former Browns and current Rams safety John Johnson III long to get on X, formerly Twitter, and share his thoughts after his current team beat his former team, 36-19, thanks in large part to his interception with 6:51 left in the game on a deep pass from Joe Flacco intended for Elijah Moore.
Jjohnson posted a shot at the Browns after the game in which the Rams turned his interception into a touchdown, turning a one-point lead into an eight-point lead. The rout was on after that.
“Just one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” Johnson told cleveland.com in the postgame locker room about the post. “I don’t think they viewed me (as trash) — I think it was more of a mutual thing — but I was supposed to be there. I had three years. So playing them, I definitely had a little extra motivation.”
“Usually when that happens, it always comes back,” Johnson told cleveland.com after the game. “So I was just trying to be in the moment, just try to do my job and for (darn) sure it came, but it felt good, old team, a lot of memories. So just to get down with it in my house now — I started (in L.A.) — so it was an awesome feeling.”
Johnson was a third-round pick of the Rams out of Boston College in 2017 and, after four years in L.A., became one of GM Andrew Berry’s first prominent free agent additions, signing a three-year, $33.75 million deal.
His time with the Browns ended when he was let go before the final year of his deal. Berry pivoted to Juan Thornhill, agreeing on a 3-year, $21 million contract the same day they released Johnson.
“I probably wasn’t meeting the expectations that they wanted me to,” Johnson said. “I wasn’t reaching my own expectations. So it was kind of like a mutual thing. I kind of felt it was coming. So there is no bad blood.”
