Gannon surprised Johnson slid to Cardinals: 'Best corner in the draft'

Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon believes he may have landed the steal of the draft after selecting cornerback Will Johnson with the 47th overall pick in the second round.

"When he was sitting there, I'm like, 'Dude am I missing something? Like, this is the best corner in the draft. Like what are we talking about?" Gannon said on Mad Dog Sports Radio.

Gannon added, "We're like, 'We think this guy's a starting corner, and just the person is phenomenal.' The intangibles. He's very intelligent. And it really is a scheme fit for us, too. So it was like, 'Dude, let's take that guy.' So when we picked him it was like, 'Holy cow, man.' I did not think he was going to be there."

Gannon didn't hold much hope that Johnson would still be available when the Cardinals made their next pick on Day 2.

"When we left on Thursday, we had him graded very high," Gannon said. "In my mind I was like, 'There is no chance he's there when we pick in (Round) 2, like none.' We get there Friday and (general manager Monti Ossenfort) has all these algorithms that he has all the analytics people run and all this stuff, and I said, 'What are the chances that he's there in (Round) 2?' And they're like, 'Coach, 0.02%.'"

Gannon also revealed that eight defensive coordinators texted him when Johnson was selected, admitting he was their No. 1 cornerback on the board.

It's been speculated that Johnson, who had nine interceptions and three pick-6s in college, slid in the draft due to concerns with his knee. However, Gannon insisted the Cardinals were "really comfortable" with his medicals.