NFL
Who Is Mr. Irrelevant 2023? Meet 7th-Round NFL Draft Pick Desjuan Johnson
Tim Crean started writing about sports in 2016 and joined Sportscasting in 2021. He excels with his versatile coverage of the NFL and soccer landscape, as well as his expertise breaking down sports media, which stems from his many years downloading podcasts before they were even cool and countless hours spent listening to Mike & The Mad Dog and The Dan Patrick Show, among other programs. As a longtime self-professed sports junkie who even played DII lacrosse at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, Tim loves reading about all the latest sports news every day and considers it a dream to write about sports professionally. He's a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan from Western New York who mistakenly thought, back in the early '90s, that his team would be in the Super Bowl every year. He started following European soccer — with a Manchester City focus — in the early 2000s after spending far too much time playing FIFA. When he's not enjoying a round of golf or coaching youth soccer and flag football, Tim likes reading the work of Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Chuck Klosterman, and Tom Wolfe.
Get to know Tim Crean betterPublished30 Apr 2023
Mr. Irrelevant is the nickname for the last pick of the NFL draft. It comes with a week of fun activities and a footnote in the history books. Usually. In 2022, Mr. Irrelevant became one of the most relevant players of the season when San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy led his team to the NFC Championship. Can Mr. Irrelevant 2023 do something similar? We’ll see as the career of new Los Angeles Rams defensive end Desjuan Johnson unfolds.
Who is Mr. Irrelevant 2023, Desjuan Johnson?
Former USC, San Francisco 49ers, and Baltimore Colts wide receiver Paul Salata started the annual Irrelevant Week back at the 1976 NFL Draft. Dayton and Pittsburgh Steelers WR Kevin Kirk the first Mr. Irrelevant.
Being Mr. Irrelevant comes with a week-long celebration in the player’s honor, a trip to Disneyland, and an award called the Lowsman Trophy.
This year’s recipient, the 259th pick in the seventh round of the 2023 NFl Draft, is Toledo DE Desjuan Johnson.
Johnson is from Detroit, Michigan, and went to East English Village Prep for high school and became a three-star recruit before signing with Toledo in the MAC Conference. He played five seasons for the Golden Rockets, earning first-team All-MAC honors in his final season.
The Detroit native also had 65 tackles, 5.5 sacks, and a team-leading 16.5 tackles for a loss.
At 6-foot-2, 285 pounds, Desjuan Johnson is a bit of a positional tweener at the next level. His height and arms are a little short to play defensive end in the NFL, and he’s a little light to play on the interior.
Johnson is strong with heavy hands, and he can beat double teams. His best path to NFL success would be to bulk up in order to play inside. With the Rams, Johnson will learn from one of the best of all time – and a player who’s about the same size — Aaron Donald.
As an interior defensive lineman, Johnson won’t have the immediate and highly-publicized impact that Brock Purdy had. Still, he went to a team that could use more depth on the defensive line after losing A’Shawn Robinson and Greg Gaines in free agency.
Even if Desjuan Johnson doesn’t create the Brock Purdy Effect like his predecessor, he has a good chance to make the Rams’ Week 1 roster next season, which isn’t bad for Mr. Irrelevant 2023.
