Jimmy Johnson was one of the NFL's original lockdown cornerbacks. He was Deion Sanders way before Deion Sanders. The 49ers drafted Johnson out of UCLA with the sixth pick in the 1961 NFL Draft.
Jimmy Johnson, who played 16 seasons for the 49ers and is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, passed away Wednesday night.Johnson was one of the NFL's original lockdown cornerbacks. He was Deion Sanders way before Deion Sanders. The 49ers drafted Johnson out of UCLA with the sixth pick in the 1961 NFL Draft. He was a star in the early 1970s when the 49ers went to back-to-back NFC Championships, losing to the Dallas Cowboys in 1970 and 1971.
Johnson was such a dominant athlete, he played wide receiver his second season on the 49ers, caught 34 passes, averaged 18.4 yards per reception and caught four touchdown passes including an 80-yarder, which was a franchise record at the time. Then he switched back to defensive back, and from 1964 to 1976 he was the 49ers starting left cornerback. He was so good, opposing quarterbacks rarely tested him. And when they did, he often intercepted them.
In 1994, Johnson was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He's also a member of the All Decade Team for the 1970s. And he's unquestionably one of the greatest players in 49ers franchise history.Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis.
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