Funny you mention Parker; that's who I kinda see in Gardner-Johnson as well. Like you said, the good version of Parker who was a willing tackler, just not very good at it.

There's such a big difference between the player Parker was (a guy who would try to hit guys and slow them down rather than bring them down) and the player Parker became (a guy who wasn't even willing to try to hit them and let blockers/ballcarriers dictate the play).

It's a Peters v. Nelson thing. Peters just wouldn't try, Nelson would try and sometimes fail. But the try/fail thing at least slows the ballcarrier down and makes him start reacting rather than pushing the play himself. It makes the guy cognizent that a hit MIGHT be coming from over there. It's just a big big difference.

I don't mind some of my secondary players being mediocre to poor tacklers here and there, but what I do mind is them being unwilling tacklers. CGJ is a willing tackler, he's just not always great at it. I can live with that provided that he's the asset in coverage that I think he'll become.

I give CGJ a bit of a pass because his prior staff was a total abortion and I saw improvement in 2018. Can't be stated nearly enough how bad shark ****er was.

I think he can be a solid long term player in the secondary.