Ezra Johnson
American football player (born 1955)
Ezra Ray Johnson (born October 2, 1955) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end for 15 seasons with the Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts and Houston Oilers in the National Football League (NFL) from 1977 to 1991.
A first-round pick from Morris Brown College by the Green Bay Packers in 1977, Johnson was known as one of the best defensive linemen in his first few years in the league. Johnson earned a spot in the 1979 Pro Bowl after unofficially finishing second, to Detroit Lions Al "Bubba" Baker, with 20.5 sacks in 1978. (Quarterback sacks were not an official NFL statistic until 1982.) However, by 1981, Johnson's career was marred by a series of back injuries and allegations of his lack of discipline on the field, including one incident in which he ate a hot dog while sitting on the bench during a preseason game, and being inconsistent at times. He lost and regained his starting job multiple times during that period.
Johnson was exclusively used as the third-down pass rush specialist after 1986, and took a leadership role with the team. He was released by the Packers in 1988 and played with two seasons with the Colts, and one with the Oilers before retiring in 1991. Despite his adverse relationship with the team at times, Johnson was elected to the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 1997.
College career
Johnson played college football at Morris Brown College in Atlanta. In his last year at Morris Brown he had 112 tackles and 28 sacks.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Ezra Johnson” as american football player (born 1955). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american football player (born 1955). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5423370. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1955, 1977, 1991 and 1979.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ezra Johnson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.