Every season, there are players who break out onto the scene who may not have been dominant the season before, whether they had limited snaps, dealt with an injury, or just improved as a player in the offseason.
Pro Football Focus’ Zoltan Buday went through all 32 teams and named a breakout candidate from each one. For the Chargers, Buday pegged second-year guard Zion Johnson as his.
Johnson is another second-year player who struggled a bit early in his rookie season, but he showed plenty of promising signs as the season went on to make Chargers fans excited about a potential leap in Year 2. Even though he ranked just 39th in PFF grade among guards on the season, his 70.8 grade over the last seven weeks of the regular season was good for 12th best at his position. Also, his 73.5 run-blocking grade over that span ranked fifth among guards.
Selected No. 17 overall out of Boston College in the 2022 NFL draft, Johnson was thrown into the fire in his first season, filling in as the team’s starting right guard from the get-go.
He appeared in every game, playing 100% of the offensive snaps, except for Week 11 against the Raiders when he came off the field for 11% of the snaps due to a shoulder issue that he experienced.
Johnson experienced rookie growing pains, particularly in pass protection, as he was tasked to go up against elite competition. However, he was steadily strong as a run blocker alongside Trey Pipkins.
Johnson is expected to move from right to left guard, the spot he played in college, where he will play next to the young and talented tackle Rashawn Slater, which should only benefit his play.
