Damone Johnson (born March 2, 1962) is a former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Lik ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played seven seasons for the Los Angeles Rams.

Early life

Johnson graduated from

Santa Monica High School Santa Monica High School, officially abbreviated to SaMoHi, is located in Santa Monica, California. Founded in 1891, it changed location several times in its early years before settling into its present campus at 601 Pico Boulevard. It is a part o ...

and played collegiately at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where he played four seasons and finished with 109 receptions for 1,632 yards and 10 touchdowns. He earned All- Western Football Conference selection in 1983. After his Cal Poly career in 1984, Johnson ranked second in school history for both receptions and receiving yards.

Professional career

After being drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in the sixth round of the 1985 NFL Draft, Johnson spent his rookie season on injured reserve due to a knee injury suffered in training camp. In 1986, a shoulder injury kept him sidelined for most of the season before he was activated from injured reserve and played in the team's final five games, though he did not catch a pass. Johnson's first significant playing time came when he caught six passes for 69 yards (ultimately both single-game career highs) in the Rams' 30-17 loss to the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, A ...

. Playing in 12 games and starting in five, Johnson became the Rams' leading pass catcher among tight ends with 21 receptions for 198 yards and two touchdowns. Becoming a full-time starter at tight end, Johnson's best season came in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

, when he caught 42 passes for 350 yards and scored six touchdowns, all single-season highs for his career. In the final game of the regular season that year, Johnson caught four passes for 42 yards and a career-high three touchdowns in a 38-16 win over the eventual Super Bowl champion

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

. Johnson played four more seasons with the Rams, and at the end of his career, he held the record for most touchdown receptions by a tight end in team history.

References

1962 births Living people Players of American football from Los Angeles American football tight ends Cal Poly Mustangs football players Los Angeles Rams players {{tightend-1960s-stub