Johnson attended Hawkinsville High School, where he was a three-sport athlete in football, basketball and track. He played defensive end for the Hawkinsville Red Devils football team. As a junior, he earned Class A All-State honorable mention and All-Area honors. As a senior, he recorded 16 sacks and 30 pressures while leading his team to the Class A State Championship, where he returned an interception 83 yards for a touchdown. He participated in the GACA North-South All-Star game. In addition to football, he also played basketball and ran track. He played as a forward on the basketball team. In track & field, he competed as a member of the Hawkinsville relay squads, recording personal-best times of 43.27 seconds in the 4x100 and 3:42.47 minutes in the 4x400. He also ran a 4.6-second 40-yard dash.
Professional career
Johnson was considered by some NFL scouts to be a 1st or 2nd round pick and rated as high as the 3rd best defensive end in draft by some scouting services. He went later than expected to the Carolina Panthers in the 3rd round with the 83rd overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft. This was considered to be a greatsteal by many experts. During Johnson's rookie year, he appeared sparingly due to playing behind established veterans like Julius Peppers and Mike Rucker. Johnson appeared in all 16 games of the 2008 season. With Rucker retired, and a year of experience behind him; he showed great strides during the year totaling 25 tackles, 6 quarterback sacks, and forcing 1 fumble. The 2010 season was his first year as a starter with the departure of longtime starter Julius Peppers and was somewhat of a breakout year for Johnson. Through 16 games he recorded 11.5 sacks with 62 total tackles, and 1 forced fumble. After the lockout was lifted, Johnson was resigned to a six-year $72M contract. According to ESPN the Magazine, he was the highest paid player in the NFL during the 2011 season with a total salary of $34M. Johnson recorded 9.0, 12.5, 11.0, and 8.5 over the 2011–2014 seasons, 11th in the NFL over that time period. He had two sacks in the Panthers' first 2014 playoff game against Arizona. On September 29, 2015, he was placed on injured reserve, and missed five games. However, he returned on November 24, 2015. On February 7, 2016, Johnson was part of the Panthers team that played in Super Bowl 50. In the game, the Panthers fell to the Denver Broncos by a score of 24–10. He had five tackles and a sack in the losing effort, matching the one sack he had in both previous playoff games. His five career playoff sacks is a Panthers franchise record, and his three that year shares a single-postseason record with Kony Ealy. On March 3, 2016, Johnson was released, but on March 8, 2016,he signed a one-year deal with the Panthers worth $3 million. On March 7, 2017, Johnson signed a two-year, $9.5 million contract extension with the Panthers. On December 1, 2017, Johnson was suspended for four games due to violating the league's policy on performance-enhancing substances. On February 26, 2018, Johnson was released by the Panthers. Johnson officially announced his retirement from the NFL on August 22, 2018. He spent his entire professional career with the Carolina Panthers.
