Raiders Safety Lonnie Johnson Jr. Suffers Broken Leg in Practice Collision with Maxx Crosby
Las Vegas Raiders safety Lonnie Johnson Jr. suffered a broken leg during a practice collision with star edge rusher Maxx Crosby at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday. The injury occurred during a run play as running back Raheem Moster sprinted to the right and was tackled by Crosby, who inadvertently rolled onto Johnson’s leg.
Johnson immediately clutched his right leg, and the medical staff placed him on a cart after evaluating the situation on the Allegiant Stadium turf, which was seen in a video posted by ESPN. Raiders new head coach Pete Carroll told reporters that it was initially a ‘lower leg injury,’ though he didn’t have all the details. Further reports indicate Johnson suffered a fractured fibula.
While Johnson’s status hasn’t been made official by the Raiders, he did allude to its seriousness in posts on X. ‘Imma soldier chin up chest out,’ Johnson posted. ‘God got me.’ He also jokingly wrote on Sunday, ‘I wonder if I can get a handicap sticker now,’ with laughing emojis.
This is Johnson’s seventh year in the NFL after being taken by the Houston Texans in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft. Despite the high draft choice, the Texans moved on after three seasons with Johnson. Since then, he played for the Tennessee Titans, New Orleans Saints, and Carolina Panthers.
Through 83 career games, Johnson has tallied four interceptions, 199 combined tackles, and 15 combined tackles. Johnson recently said that, when he signed his one-year deal with the Raiders, Carroll was ‘blowing up my phone’ and eventually told him he’d been trying for years to get him in the building.
It was reported by ESPN that Johnson was getting first-team defensive reps while three safeties were spotted on the field, so this could be a considerable blow to the team. Johnson was expected to play in a rotational role this season.