Los Angeles County Sheriff’s homicide investigators continue to examine the death of former NFL defensive tackle Kevin Johnson, a spokesperson told USA TODAY Sports on Jan. 23.

Investigators have released limited details on the death of Johnson, 55, who was found shortly before 8 a.m. PT Jan. 21, near a homeless encampment roughly 10 miles east of Los Angeles International Airport. In a release, the sheriff’s office said that deputies located an unconscious adult male, later identified as Johnson, suffering from head trauma. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

‘Unfortunately it appears he was homeless,’ Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Steve De Jong told Newsweek on Jan. 22. ‘It looks like he was probably living there.’

The sheriff’s office has not released additional information about its investigation, including the status of its search for a suspect.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner on Jan. 22 cited ‘blunt head trauma and stab wounds’ as Johnson’s cause of death and listed his place of death as a homeless encampment.

USA TODAY Sports will continue to update its reporting on Johnson’s death as new information is made available. Here’s what we know about Johnson and his playing career:

Kevin Johnson’s college career: Standout defensive lineman at Texas Southern

Johnson, a Los Angeles native, played college football at Los Angeles Harbor College and Texas Southern, where he was a teammate of Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive end Michael Strahan. Johnson was drafted two rounds after Strahan in the 1993 NFL draft as a 6-foot-1, 306-pound interior lineman.

Kevin Johnson’s NFL career: Eagles, Raiders stops after Patriots draft selection

The New England Patriots drafted Johnson in the fourth round of the 1993 NFL Draft. After the Patriots released Johnson that August, the defensive tackle made brief stops in Minnesota and Oakland as a practice squad member and training camp participant before the Philadelphia Eagles claimed him off of waivers in August 1995.

Johnson played two seasons for the Eagles, appearing in 23 games and starting six of them in the regular season with 54 tackles, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery, which he also returned for a touchdown. He also appeared in two playoff games in 1995. Philadelphia suspended, then released Johnson in 1996 after he missed a practice, according to Pro Football Reference and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Johnson signed with the then-Oakland Raiders the following April, and he appeared in 15 games for Oakland, tallying seven tackles.

After Johnson’s release from the Raiders in 1998, he played four years in the Arena Football League, winning an ArenaBowl with the Orlando Predators in 1998.

AI-assisted summary
• Jarrett Stidham is starting for the Denver Broncos in the AFC championship game due to an injury to Bo Nix.
• Stidham was drafted by the Patriots in 2019 and has connections to several current New England coaches and players.
• Coaches describe Stidham as decisive, accurate, and possessing a calm demeanor suitable for big games.
• Despite limited regular-season playing time, the Patriots are preparing for Stidham as a capable quarterback.

FOXBOROUGH, MA – Milton Williams spoke the truth when he stood at his locker and declared that he didn’t know much about Denver Broncos quarterback Jarrett Stidham. 

“I ain’t gonna lie,” the New England Patriots defensive lineman said, “nothing. We’re gonna watch the tape on him and figure out what he likes to do. But no. They didn’t like him over Bo (Nix), so.” 

Indeed, the Broncos would have preferred their starting quarterback for the last two seasons, Nix, were healthy and playing rather than Stidham, pressed into starting action Jan. 25 against the Patriots in the AFC championship game due to Bo Nix’s season-ending ankle injury. But Williams’ words were more logical than disrespectful. For a team that has embodied New England head coach Mike Vrabel – Williams’ statement a fair example of that – the entire locker room knows they have come too far, with too much at stake, to lighten up because the No. 1 seed in the AFC has a backup quarterback in the lineup. 

“I think he sees things really well,” Vrabel said of Stidham. “I think he’s athletic enough to extend, like we talk about a lot of quarterbacks. Accuracy. I think the decision-making – he’s really decisive in the games that we went back and watched.”

Patriots drafted Jarrett Stidham in 2019, praise his preparation

Stidham has plenty of connections to the Patriots, starting with them being the organization that drafted him out of Auburn in 2019 (fourth round, 133rd overall). He was Tom Brady’s backup during the seven-time Super Bowl champion’s final year with the organization, then served in the same role behind Cam Newton in 2020. 

(Speaking of Brady, the Patriots know a thing about a backup coming in and being a hero in a conference title game. Drew Bledsoe, after Brady had usurped him earlier that season, led the Pats to Super Bowl 36 after Brady injured his ankle against the Pittsburgh Steelers.)

Linebacker Anfernee Jennings, drafted in 2020, is one of the two current Patriots (offensive lineman Mike Onwenu is the other) who overlapped with Stidham in New England. He sounded like Bill Belichick while describing Stidham – who took the job seriously, “prepared the right way,” and acted like a NFL quarterback. 

“‘Stiddy’ was a good teammate. He did a good job at doing his job,” Jennings said. “I remember that he was a competitor. 

“Those guys, they want to win, just like we want to win.” 

Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels coached Stidham for two seasons in New England and then signed him after he took the Las Vegas Raiders head coaching job in 2022. Stidham made his first two starts at the end of that season and replicated that with the Broncos the next season when he filled in for the benched Russell Wilson during head coach Sean Payton’s first year in Denver.

Payton told reporters that he’d evaluated Stidham during his draft process when Payton was the head coach of the New Orleans Saints. Stidham’s first career start, an overtime loss to the San Francisco 49ers in which he threw 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions, racked up 365 passing yards and averaged 10.7 yards per attempt, impressed him. 

“I have a lot of respect for Josh (McDaniels), and I knew that he liked him,” Payton said. “He really played well in that 49er game against a real good defense. That’s when we became aggressive.” 

Stidham ‘is going to rip it,’ Broncos coach Sean Payton said

At the start of the season, Payton said he felt like his backup was one of the 32 best quarterbacks across the entire league. 

“I think everyone feels that way,” he said. “That’s why that signing was important. You don’t know when it’s happening, but I’m glad it happened. I’m glad that acquisition took place.

“He’s going to rip it, and that will be our approach. He has this calm demeanor that I think suits him well. He’s played in big games, college.” 

Stidham has played behind mostly healthy quarterbacks during his professional career. Vrabel recalled negotiating with Stidham’s representation during the offseason, and the player’s agent joked that signing Stidham would guarantee good fortune for the Patriots. Payton won out and kept Stidham in Denver. But beyond the preseason and a handful of late-season affairs, there isn’t much tape on Stidham.

Vrabel doubted whether McDaniels’ relationship with Stidham would provide any game-planning advantage. But that doesn’t mean they won’t account for it, he said. 

McDaniels described the 29-year-old as “smart, accurate, great human being, worked hard, great teammate.”

“Just hadn’t had an opportunity, based on the situations,” said McDaniels, who added that he enjoyed working with him. 

Patriots prepare for Broncos offense to operate on schedule

Patriots linebacker K’Lavon Chaisson, who has three sacks in two games this postseason, played against Stidham during their college days (Chaisson won a national title at Louisiana State in 2019). The team watched Stidham’s preseason tape, Chaisson said, and said he can make the necessary throws from a clean pocket. Two All-Pros lead what is regarded as one of the league’s best offensive lines in Denver and should provide that on a few occasions. 

“We won’t take that for granted at all,” Chaisson said. 

Not attempting a pass in a game in more than two years makes Stidham a mystery to plan against. The Patriots expect Payton will have the offense operating similarly to how it would with Nix. 

“Until they show otherwise,” Chaisson said. 

By midweek, Vrabel had watched the approximately 400 regular-season snaps Stidham has taken across 20 appearances. Denver will stick to its strengths, Vrabel said. 

“So, we’ll have to be prepared for the plan and the things that they’ve shown. I’m sure there’ll be some things that they haven’t shown,” Vrabel said. “He’s more than capable to go out there and operate. It’s why he’s a backup, and one that was coveted around the league.” 

• There’s a way to increase the college football schedule but also play the national championship game on Jan. 1.
• Conference championships must go. Replace them with a 13th game for everyone.
• Start season in August. End it on New Year’s Day.

Fernando Mendoza is a champion. He’s also an idea man.

Asked during a 2024 podcast appearance what his idea would be for a bowl game, Mendoza suggested a game in Alaska.

“It’d be crazy — just the salmon and bears all around,” said Mendoza, before going on to win the Heisman Trophy and a national championship as Indiana’s quarterback.

Hey, nobody said it was a good idea.

Inspired by Mendoza’s blue-sky thinking, I’ve come up with a few postseason ideas of my own and revamped the playoff schedule.

Buy IU championship books, prints

1. Eliminate conference championship games, move to 13-game schedule

The playoff selection committee confirmed conference championship games had lost their meaning after Georgia boot-stomped Alabama in the SEC championship, and then neither team budged an inch in the ensuing CFP rankings. The committee treated Alabama-Georgia as a December exhibition.

The argument for conference championships further withered when Duke won the ACC title game, but Miami received the conference’s de facto automatic bid.

Conference championships were once revolutionary. They’re now antiquated. Time to evolve.

Dump them in favor of an additional data point for every team. I’m not suggesting play-in games. Sorry, Tony Petitti, that idea still stinks.

Instead, I’m suggesting every team play a 13-game regular-season schedule, with no conference championship games. So, you’d just add one game to everybody’s schedule.

On the subject of regular-season scheduling, to be eligible for playoff consideration, each Power Four team should be required to play at least 11 of its 13 games against either Power Four opponents or Notre Dame.

So, a schedule could look like this:

Two cupcake games + two marquee nonconference games + nine conference games = 13 games.

2. Start the season earlier, but keep rivalry week during Thanksgiving

No matter when the season starts and ends, rivalry week must remain during Thanksgiving week.

Ohio State-Michigan. The Iron Bowl. The Egg Bowl. Texas-Texas A&M.

These games should occur alongside a helping of turkey and pumpkin pie. Rivalry week remains the sport’s pinnacle. Leave it undisturbed, even if the playoff changes in size and shape.

But, we must find a spot for the 13th game I’ve added to the schedule. I could slot that 13th game in December, in place of conference championship weekend. But, no. Instead, start the regular season a week sooner. In other words, the week that’s now dubbed Week 0 becomes Week 1. The regular season would end with rivalry games during Thanksgiving weekend. Then, advance straight into playoff selection.

3. Start and end the College Football Playoff sooner

OK, so I’ve freed up the first weekend in December by nixing conference championship weekend and slotting the additional game into Week 0. Using the 2026 calendar as a guide, that means the regular season would start Aug. 29 and end Nov. 28, with Selection Sunday the following day.

Let’s model what this could look like, using the current 12-team playoff format.

• First-round playoff games: Dec. 4-5. One game on Friday, followed by three on Saturday.
• Quarterfinal playoff games: Dec. 11-12. One game on Friday, followed by three on Saturday.
• Semifinal playoff games: Dec. 19.
• National championship game: Jan. 1.

This would wrap up the postseason before the NFL playoffs begin.

By starting the postseason sooner and shortening delays between CFP games, you’d build off the momentum of rivalry week and Selection Sunday and roll straight into a playoff crescendo.

4. Make New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day a college football bonanza

Bowl games don’t mean what they used to, but they can be incorporated throughout the holiday season as appetizers to the national championship game to preserve New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day as marquee dates on the college football calendar.

Earmark multiple bowl games to be played daily, starting on Dec. 26. Include several bowl games on Dec. 31 and additional bowl games in the noon and afternoon windows on Jan. 1, as the lead-up to the national championship game that kicks off in prime time on New Year’s Day.

5. Portal opens after the national championship

Open the transfer portal on Jan. 2, one day after the national championship game.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.