| No. 11, 7, 17 | |||||||||
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| Position: | Quarterback | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | March 18, 1973 Newport Beach, California, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 212 lb (96 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | El Toro (Lake Forest, California) | ||||||||
| College: | USC | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1995 / round: 4 / pick: 99 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
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| * Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||||
| As a coach: | |||||||||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Robert Garland Johnson (born March 18, 1973) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the USC Trojans and was a fourth-round pick in the 1995 NFL draft by the expansion team Jacksonville Jaguars.
With USC, Johnson won the 1995 Cotton Bowl Classic. In the Jaguars' opening game of 1997, Johnson started for an injured Mark Brunell and had a breakout performance that set a record for the best completion percentage by a debuting starting quarterback. Johnson signed a $25 million contract with the Buffalo Bills the following season and was named starting quarterback by coach Wade Phillips. Johnson had a tumultuous, injury-ridden run with the Bills and a reputation for frequently being sacked (140 in his career, including 49 in 2000), the inspiration for the nickname "Robo-sack". Johnson's injuries and poor performance led Phillips to replace Johnson with the more experienced Doug Flutie as starter. Controversially, Phillips started Johnson over Flutie for the 2000 Wild Card playoff game that the Bills lost to eventual AFC champion Tennessee Titans, after Flutie helped the Bills to an 11–5 record in the 1999 season. Phillips later said that Bills' owner Ralph Wilson had instructed the head coach to start Johnson over Flutie.[1]
After two losing seasons with the Bills, Johnson joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for 2002 and won a Super Bowl title with the team as a backup to Brad Johnson (no relation). Rob Johnson played his final games with the Washington Redskins and Oakland Raiders in 2003. He also tried out in 2006 for the New York Giants and in 2008 for the Tennessee Titans. In 2004, Johnson became an assistant football coach at Mission Viejo High School with his brother, both under their father as head coach.