Baltimore Ravens QB Josh Johnson: The Ultimate NFL Journeyman

Josh Johnson is among the returning Baltimore Ravens players present for offseason training activities on a sunny mid-June day at the team’s training facility. Returning is rarely an applicable descriptive for the ultimate journeyman quarterback, who’s played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland Browns and Washington.

It’s been 13 years since Johnson was on the same team in consecutive seasons. That could change this fall.

Johnson is back in Baltimore for a second straight offseason. He served as the Ravens’ emergency third quarterback in 2023. With the departure of backup quarterback Tyler Huntley in free agency, Johnson is now QB2 on the depth chart behind reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson. Taking second-team snaps in a black practice uniform at the Ravens facility, Johnson looks plenty comfortable.

He’s set to have the same offensive coordinator, Todd Monken, and quarterbacks coach, Tee Martin, in back-to-back years. Count playing for head coach John Harbaugh as another constant for Johnson, who’s spent much of his collegiate and professional career on a team led by John or his brother, Jim.

Johnson gears up for another season at a facility he calls one of the NFL’s best. He should know, given a wide frame of reference. He’s been signed by 14 different NFL franchises over the course of his career, although he hasn’t appeared in the regular season for all of those teams. No player in NFL history has more teams on his résumé.

Continuity would be a welcome change. Johnson says his family appreciates this period of stability, too. He knows better than most how to adjust on the fly, but the prospect of staying in one place has allowed him to work on his routine, be more detail-oriented and push his game “beyond the level of just understanding the playbook.”

“I really like his growth — it's crazy to say that with the amount of experience he has — but I really like his growth within this offense from Year 1 to Year 2,” Martin said. “And it gave us the confidence to go in saying that he could be QB2 for us.”

Johnson, 38, is one of only a handful of players from the 2008 draft class still on an NFL roster. He’s seen Jerod Mayo and Kevin O’Connell ascend to NFL head coaching jobs, while the likes of Matt Ryan and Chris Long have graduated to the media world post-retirement.

When Johnson crosses paths with some of these people on NFL sidelines, it’s not unusual for him to hear them say, “Man, you’re still playing?”

He doesn’t plan on stopping any time soon. Asked if playing until age 40 is still the goal, Johnson says that’s the minimum. (Aaron Rodgers, 40, is the NFL’s oldest active player, and Tom Brady famously played until age 45.)

Josh Johnson Through the Years

“I still love the game very much, still wake up, still have the football dream, still get excited for the moment, so that's not wavering right now,” Johnson told Athlon Sports . “I'm striving for as long as my family is gonna allow it, God's gonna allow it and me doing what’s necessary for me to be able to be a player that an organization can depend on.”

Harbaugh commended Johnson for being just that kind of player. False starts at OTAs are penalized with laps, and Johnson set the tone at the team’s facility in Owings Mills, Maryland, after some early jumps.

“I appreciate Josh Johnson to be the first guy to be the leader and get out there and take the first lap,” Harbaugh told reporters after practice. “That’s what leaders do.”

Since Tampa Bay drafted him in 2008, Johnson has witnessed plenty of change.

Player safety has been prioritized with the elimination of two-a-day practices and the introduction of Guardian caps. He’s been through the COVID season, the addition of a 17th game to the schedule and the shortening of the preseason — which he laments, as someone who has benefited from playing time in the preseason. He’s even familiar with the new kickoff rules arriving in 2024 from his time in the XFL, one of four professional football leagues he’s played in.

Johnson has played for both Harbaugh brothers and both Gruden brothers, Jon and Jay. He’s been teammates with Andrew Luck, Colin Kaepernick, Matthew Stafford, Adrian Peterson and A.J. Green. And yes, he’s learned quite a few playbooks throughout his unique career.

“I'm grateful for those experiences, because it's allowed me to be accustomed to anything,” Johnson said. “And really, that's the life of a backup quarterback, anyway. You know, because at any moment your number could be called, you got to be ready to go, because expectations don't change.”

The last time his number was called in a game was the 2022 NFC Championship Game, with the San Francisco 49ers on the verge of the Super Bowl. Then-rookie Brock Purdy went down against the Philadelphia Eagles with a shoulder injury and Johnson took his place. But Johnson suffered a concussion and was forced to leave the game.

That spate of injuries led to the introduction of the emergency quarterback , a position Johnson held last season for a Ravens team that also came one win away from playing football in February.

“Being that close two years in a row, I understand that challenge even more,” Johnson said. “Everybody here is just focused on the process. And I love that about this team.”

Of Johnson’s three stints with the Ravens, this is the most complete team he’s been on, evidenced by a deep playoff run last season and their standing as a contender in the stacked AFC. He first signed with Baltimore in 2016 but was released before the season began. He didn’t get in a game until his second go-around in Charm City in 2021. Johnson returned to the Ravens in May 2023 , and he re-upped for another season in March.

Johnson knows full well nothing is guaranteed, despite his current standing in the quarterback room. Even after he signed with Baltimore in 2023, he was cut and re-signed two days later in August and again in September . Rookies Devin Leary, a sixth-round pick, and Emory Jones, who went undrafted, round out the quarterback room alongside Jackson and Johnson, who says they all push each other to get better.

Backing up Jackson is an important position, considering the two-time MVP has missed 11 games over the past three years and more quarterbacks than ever have been called upon to start over the last few seasons. It’s also a job Johnson is uniquely qualified for given his dual-threat abilities and extensive experience.

John Harbaugh surely got the scouting report on Johnson from his brother, Jim, who coached Johnson at the University of San Diego from 2004-06. Johnson set several school records in his senior season with the Toreros after Jim left for Stanford — they reunited years later in the NFL after Jim took the 49ers job.

The Harbaugh-Johnson connection will come full circle this fall when the Ravens take on the Chargers in November. After almost a decade away from the NFL, Jim returned to the league to coach Los Angeles.

Johnson says he’s been able to pull something from every coach he’s had throughout his lengthy career but admits his time with the Harbaugh brothers sticks out.

“It just kind of boils down to the people that I've been around the most,” Johnson said, while also noting the impact of Kyle Shanahan and Raheem Morris.

That Week 12 game at SoFi Stadium will be a reunion for Jim Harbaugh and Johnson, who’s gotten used to seeing former teammates and coaches weekly.

“You play long enough, you will have those moments. You'll have those moments when you visit familiar places, when you play for many people,” Johnson said. “But for me, you appreciate it at the pregame, get to see everybody, shake hands, catch up, check on families and whatnot. At the end of the day it’s just another NFL game that you got to be locked in and ready to win.”

On the verge of his 17th season, Johnson says he’s taking things one day at a time. But that’s not to say he hasn’t given any thought to his life after football.

“I got options, man,” Johnson said. “I feel like my travels have exposed me to a lot of different lanes, a lot of different avenues. I think, obviously in sports, there's opportunity there.”

He mentioned coaching, management and consulting as paths available to him, but he also values the community work he’s done for years in his hometown of Oakland, California.

Just check Johnson’s LinkedIn for his voluminous résumé. In addition to his lengthy “quarterback” experiences, he is the president and co-founder of the Fam 1st Family Foundation, which he operates with his cousin, retired NFL star Marshawn Lynch, and veteran cornerback Marcus Peters.

“Who knows what the future really holds?” Johnson said. “Each year, I find something new that grabs my interest. It all stems from playing football, from me having a family, and just serving the community. You do those different things, you get exposed to so many different walks of life. When that time comes after I'm continuing on being all in with this game, we'll see what happens.”

He’s been all in for a while. You don’t hang around 17 years in a league that some joke stands for “Not For Long” without commitment. Being in a familiar spot with teammates and coaches he knows is as good a place as any to embark on the grind of another season. But if history is an indication, Johnson will continue to go wherever his services are needed.

After all, change is his constant.

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