Kyron
Johnson.
Kyron
Johnson.
Kansas
Johnson is a 6-foot-0 3/8, 231-pound converted linebacker who played defensive end as a super senior, and everything about him is built on speed. A 4.40 forty, a 1.50 ten-yard split and a 39 1/2-inch vertical at his pro day made him one of the fastest edge players in the class.
He rushes on an arc and wins before the tackle can set, which is how he generated ten quarterback hurries and four forced fumbles in his final season. He is also a genuine change-of-direction athlete, with a 4.38 short shuttle and a 6.98 three-cone. The problem is the frame. At 231 pounds with 32 1/2-inch arms he gets folded when a tackle lands first, and he was moved between off-ball linebacker and the edge for five years without ever settling at either.
A sub-package defense that uses him as a designated third-down speed rusher off the edge while he earns his roster spot on all four special teams units.
Year 1: core special teams player with 10 to 15 pass-rush snaps a game. Ceiling: rotational sub-package rusher who adds five sacks.
A base 4-3 that needs him to hold the edge against tight ends on first and second down, where his weight becomes the story.
The special teams value is the only thing that keeps a 231-pound edge on a roster.
Kyron Johnson college highlights from Kansas
Pre-draft reel of his super-senior season at defensive end.
LB Kyron Johnson Highlights
Team-produced cut-up released after Philadelphia drafted him.
Eagles Draft Kyron Johnson with the 181st Overall Pick
Draft broadcast of the selection with accompanying college footage.
Johnson came out of Lamar High School in Arlington, Texas with offers from Kansas and SMU, and committed to the Jayhawks on June 2, 2016. As a high school senior he was carried off the field on a stretcher in a game against North Crowley, which did not slow the recruitment much because there was not much of one to slow.
He arrived as a linebacker and played mostly special teams as a freshman, twelve games and 17 tackles. He became a starter as a sophomore, made his first career start against Nicholls and finished with 16 tackles, four tackles for loss and two sacks. The junior year was his first real volume season: 55 tackles, six for loss and one sack across twelve games on a team that won three times.
After the COVID-shortened 2020 season — nine games, 42 tackles, five tackles for loss and three sacks — he took the extra year the NCAA granted. Kansas moved him to defensive end full time and he produced the season that got him drafted: 61 tackles, eight for loss, 5.5 sacks, ten quarterback hurries, four forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries, and second-team All-Big 12 honors. Philadelphia took him 181st overall.
- 01
Straight-line speed
a 4.40 forty and 1.50 ten-yard split at his pro day, elite get-off numbers for anyone lining up on the edge.
- 02
Explosiveness
a 39 1/2-inch vertical and ten-foot broad jump, the lower-body pop that shows up when he converts the corner.
- 03
Ball production
four forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries as a senior, consistently attacking the quarterback's arm.
- 04
Agility
a 4.38 short shuttle and 6.98 three-cone, rare change-of-direction numbers that project to coverage and special teams.
- 05
Special teams background
played on every unit as a freshman and stayed on them for five seasons, a ready-made NFL role.
- 01
Size
231 pounds with 32 1/2-inch arms, undersized for the edge and light for an off-ball linebacker in a base defense.
- 02
Anchor
gets moved off the spot against tackles and tight ends, so he cannot be trusted to set the edge on early downs.
- 03
Position ambiguity
bounced between linebacker and defensive end for five years without mastering the technique of either.
- 04
Late production
one real pass-rush season at 24 years old, a thin sample for projecting the transition to NFL tackles.
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Kansas | 12 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2018 | Kansas | 12 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 2019 | Kansas | 12 | 55 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2020 | Kansas | 9 | 42 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2021 | Kansas | 12 | 61 | 5.5 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Career | — | 57 | 191 | 11.5 | 0 | 5 | 8 |
Season lines come from the Sports-Reference defense and fumbles table and sum exactly to the career row: 191 tackles, 24 tackles for loss, 11.5 sacks, five pass breakups, eight forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries across 57 games. Three sources disagree on the details. cfbstats credits the 2021 season at 63 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks with ten quarterback hurries, and the 2020 season at 42 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and three sacks. Wikipedia lists eight games in 2017 and ten in 2018 against Sports-Reference's twelve each. Sports-Reference is used throughout because it is the only source whose seasons reconcile with its own career total. The sack and pass breakup zeros reflect verified seasons without those plays, not missing data.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Late-round speed edge who lives on special teams and bounces between practice squads.
Undersized linebacker-to-edge convert whose speed eventually produces double-digit sacks.
Athletic rusher whose lack of an every-down role keeps the defensive snap count near zero.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
The career never found a foothold. Philadelphia kept him for a rookie season in which he played special teams and recorded a handful of snaps on defense, then waived him on August 29, 2023 and re-signed him to the practice squad before releasing him outright on October 3.
Pittsburgh signed him to its practice squad a week later, promoted him to the active roster on December 22 and waived him on August 27, 2024. Tennessee took him on the practice squad on September 11, 2024 and signed him to a reserve/future deal in January 2025, but waived him with an injury designation on May 7 and settled his injury claim on May 13. The DC Defenders drafted him in January 2026, released him in March, brought him back in April and released him again on June 2. He signed with the Ottawa Redblacks practice roster on September 16, 2026. Three NFL teams, four years and eight career tackles: a sixth-round pick whose speed never translated into a defensive role.