Keyshawn Johnson Lights Up Clemson, Says The Tigers Are No Longer Legit Contenders

Keyshawn Johnson isn't high on the Clemson Tigers going forward.

Since 2016, the Tigers have won 75 games and two national titles. However a disappointing 10-3 2021 season has some fans wondering whether or not Dabo Swinney's era of dominance is over.

Well, the former NFL standout certainly seems to think it is.

Is Clemson trending backwards? (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

"They don't have NFL talent at every position front to back, and they did in the past," Johnson said Thursday when explaining his outlook on why the Tigers are degraded from where they were a few years ago.

Will Clemson be competitive in 2022? (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images)

He further added, "When they gotta go up against some of these other schools that they've now come back to the pack with, it's gonna be tough for them to just be this juggernaut in the conference and just steamroll people like they were in the past. I just don't see it."

It seems like Keyshawn Johnson might be jumping the gun a little bit when it comes to the outlook for the Tigers in the coming years.

Dabo Swinney is arguably the second best in all of college football behind only Nick Saban, and he can absolutely recruit with the best of them.

Let's remember that Clemson's "down" season resulted in the Tigers still winning double digit games. Their losses?

Can Clemson bounce back in 2022? (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

Well, they definitely didn't lose to scrub teams. The Tigers lost to the national champions in Georgia, the ACC champions in Pittsburgh and a solid North Carolina State team.

The narrative that Clemson was dropping games to scrub teams is just not true.

Keyshawn Johnson thinks Clemson's days as a contender are over. (Photo by David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Until Clemson has a couple seasons in the row where the Tigers aren't really in the hunt, it's absolutely unreasonable to claim Dabo Swinney's team isn't a contender.