Bucs DE Johnson's one word for Zimmer: 'Tough'

Defensive end Michael Johnson left Cincinnati and signed with Tampa Bay within an hour of the start of free agency seven months ago. But he admits there was a part of him that wanted to follow his "father figure," Mike Zimmer, from his defensive coordinator stint in Cincinnati to his first head coaching job in Minnesota.

"Of course," Johnson said today. "I came into the league under Coach Zimmer. I learned a lot under him. He's a great coach and a great, great guy. It was a pleasure playing under him.

"That Bengals team last year, there's been a lot of different changes and people went in different directions. Zim talked about that, saying that's what happens when teams develop and win. Everybody gets an opportunity to continue on. That's what happened with me and that's what happened with him. I'm glad he got his shot. I know he's going to do great things up there."

Johnson got a five-year, $43.8 million deal with $24 million guaranteed to join the Bucs. He was one of several shiny new pieces that were added to a team that was widely considered to be the winner of this year's free agency period.

Unfortunately for Johnson and the Bucs, the bottom line on the field has been a 1-5 record heading into Sunday's home game against the 2-5 Vikings.

Johnson said he's used some of Zimmer's words of wisdom to help him get through the rough start. Asked to describe Zimmer in one word, Johnson didn't hesitate.

"Tough," he said.

The 6-7, 260-pound defensive end was a third-round pick of the Bengals in 2009. Later that season is when Zimmer's wife Vikki died unexpectedly at age 50. Although it came during the season, Zimmer still coached and helped the Bengals beat the Ravens.

"He went through that tough situation up there and handled it better than I would ever imagine anybody handling it," Johnson said. "Just watching him and how he always was professional and came into work every day, trying to get the best out of you every day, that really rubbed off on all of us.

"e's a great coach and a great man. He's like a father figure to a lot of us up there. And the guys on offense will tell you the same thing. They weren't working directly with him, but everybody likes Zim. He was straight up. He can be hard on you, but he was like that with everybody. You respect that about him. Guys are always going to play hard for him because you don't ever want to let him down. You don't want to let Zim down."

Johnson's new defensive coordinator is Leslie Frazier, Zimmer's predecessor in Minnesota. Asked to describe Frazier in one word, Johnson was stumped.

"I'm still getting to know Coach Frazier so I don't know if I can just put a word out there just yet that would describe him," Johnson said. "You're talking about five years with Coach Zim to get one word. I've barely had five months with Coach Frazier.