Jovon Johnson

Jovon Johnson (born November 2, 1983 in Erie, Pennsylvania) is a Canadian football defensive back for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League.

Johnson was the winner of the CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award in 2011, becoming the first defensive back to win the award in the league. He is also a two time CFL All-Star and three time CFL East Division All-Star. In addition, he was a member of the 2007 Saskatchewan Roughriders that won the Grey Cup, though he spent little time on the active roster and finished the penultimate game on the practice roster.

Career
Johnson played his high school ball (and basketball) at Mercyhurst Prep. He attended the University of Iowa. He was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers after cornerback Chidi Iwuoma and linebacker Richard Seigler were placed on injured reserve. He spent all of his playing time on the Steelers' special teams recording 1 tackle and 1 assist. He was released from the Pittsburgh Steelers on September 1, 2007.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders signed Johnson on October 5, 2007 to a contract with and placed on their Developmental Squad. He made his CFL debut October 21, 2007 against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

At the end of February in 2008, he was signed by his hometown Erie RiverRats of the AIFA. In early 2007 he had signed to play with the city's previous AIFA franchise, the now defunct Erie Freeze, but did not play for the Freeze and decided to play for the Steelers instead.

Johnson was signed by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League in April 2008 and started 17 of 18 games during the 2008 CFL season. He led the Bombers in defensive tackles with 56 and added 3 INTs.

He then returned to RiverRats for the 2009 AIFA season following a contract signing in January 2009. He was still under contract in the CFL however the season starts later in the year which would allow him to play in the AIFA. After only one game, it was found out that there was a clause in Johnson's contract with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers that prevents him from playing with any other team. With that, he returned to Winnipeg.

The 2011 Winnipeg Blue Bombers season proved to be a successful one for Johnson, helping to lead the Bombers to their first division title in ten years. He was part of a noteworthy Bombers' defence that had self-titled itself 'Swaggerville' and was named the CFL East Division's most outstanding defensive player. Following this, Johnson was named a CFL East Division all-star for the third consecutive time, as well as being named to his second CFL All-Star team a short time later. Johnson followed this up with an appearance as the first defensive back to win the CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award. He won the award as the standout player on a team full of talented defensive backs who led the led the league in fewest passing yards allowed, holding opponents to the lowest pass completion percentage, and led the league with most team interceptions. Johnson accomplished this with teammates such as Jonathan Hefney, Alex Suber, and Brandon Stewart.