Hall of Famer Jimmy Johnson longtime 49ers DB dies at 86
Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive back Jimmy Johnson, a three-time All-Pro and a member of the All-Decade Team of the 1970s, has died.
Johnson's family told the Pro Football Hall of Fame that he died Wednesday night.
"Jimmy Johnson was extraordinarily athletically talented," Hall of Fame president Jim Porter said.
Once he settled in at left cornerback, he flourished. The notion that a 'lockdown' cornerback could cut the field in half for the opposition was true with Jimmy.
Only rarely would other teams' quarterbacks even look his direction, and more often than not regretted the decision if they challenged him."
But he was so versatile that the Niners used Johnson on offense in 1962, when he made 34 receptions for 627 yards and scored four touchdowns.
Preventing opponents from compiling such stats was his forte, however, and by 1964 Johnson was a fixture on the corner.
In 1971, in the midst of a three-year run as an All-Pro, Johnson won the George Halas Award for courageous play.