The timing of Leonard Johnson’s knee injury stunk worse than the smells on the plumbing job he took in the absence of football.
About two weeks before the 2022 draft and about two weeks after solidifying his status as a potential late-round pick at Duke’s Pro Day, Johnson’s leg buckled during lateral conditioning drills in a workout at the University of Alabama-Birmingham.
UAB’s doctors handled Johnson with the care expected to be reserved for an alumnus but broke the bad news: torn ACL and torn meniscus.
At a time when other draft hopefuls might have considered their work finished, it seemed fate penalized Johnson for pushing harder.
“I was getting all these pre-draft calls, and it’s crazy that the first thing they ask is, ‘Are you healthy?’ ” Johnson told The Post. “I had to tell them the truth. I think 13 teams told me, ‘When you are 100 percent, let us know. We’ll bring you up for a workout.’ I didn’t hear from any of those teams after I got cleared.”
The Giants weren’t as quick to forget.
Johnson, 24, will report Monday to East Rutherford for the team’s offseason program and can begin battling for a spot on a weakened cornerback depth chart just 367 days after undergoing knee surgery.
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A few months ago, he was removing the 100-pound lids on septic tanks and fixing leaky pipes near his home in northern Alabama.
“I feel like I have so much more to prove because I haven’t played football in a year,” Johnson said. “I’m just so anxious to rehab with some NFL trainers knowing everything is going to be the right way. After getting hurt, all I could ask for was one opportunity. I was so close, why would I just give up now, honestly? I just want to get to New York and showcase what I can do, especially off of a leg injury this serious.”
The Giants hosted Johnson for a private workout at their facility and sent him for medical imaging last month before signing him to a three-year, $2.69 million contract — similar to what he would have received as an undrafted rookie last season.
Eric Young, the agent who stuck by Johnson’s side, relayed the offer from the baking aisle of a market.
“I was about to get on a hospital elevator,” Johnson said. “If I would’ve been anywhere else, I probably would’ve just yelled. I was dumb excited.”
Johnson was the picture of durability at Duke.
In his final four seasons, Johnson started 39 and missed one of a possible 48 games.
The 6-foot, 194-pound slot corner recorded six interceptions, added physicality in run support and flashed the speed for press coverage.
But his first significant injury led him to a crossroads.
Should he put to use an esteemed degree — one of the reasons he attended Duke in the first place — and tap into his major in sociology and minors in education and marketing management?
Should he devote 100 percent of his time to physical therapy?
Or should he settle back into the 1,342-person town of Hayden, Ala., and split his time between injury rehab and his first job so that he could lessen the financial burden on his parents while staying on the radar for teams in the NFL, CFL, XFL and USFL?
“I needed money for gas to get back and forth to therapy,” Johnson said. “I just felt so different being out of college and my parents are still having to take care of me. I just couldn’t let that happen.
“I’ve got younger guys looking up to me in my small town, and I’m home doing the same thing they are doing every day. At one point, it felt embarrassing. It was a pride thing. I had to just get over it — not going to lie. I’m glad I went through it because it made me a better man.”
Johnson’s mother, a retail manager at a Walmart distribution center, and his father, a construction worker who lays asphalt for interstate bridges, wanted their son to chase his dream.
He followed their blue-collar lead, asked a friend’s father for a job at A&T Burrow Septic Tank and Sewer Service, and unwittingly made himself into an underdog every Giants fan can support.
“We had a draftable grade on him last year,” a scout for one NFL team said. “If he’s healthy, he can make the Giants roster as it looks right now.”
Is he healthy?
“Lenny looks a little more explosive now than he did before,” said trainer Justin Woodall, a former safety at Alabama. “He didn’t quit on himself. He really didn’t show frustration, because that can be hell right before the draft. The first day he was cleared and ready to go, man, he was in the lab ready to go.”
The alarm went off in time for Johnson to get to his physical therapy appointments by 7 a.m.
That freed up his days to have a small part in installing septic-tank field lines for Anthony Burrow — who requires his employees to be on time, attentive to their surroundings and amenable to changing orders.
Sounds a lot like Giants coach Brian Daboll’s “smart, tough and dependable” motto.
“I’ve known Leonard pretty much all his life, so there was no hesitation,” Burrow said. “I see his potential. When I see somebody trying to do good by himself, it’s hard for me to say no.”
Johnson made enough of a strong impression that Burrow — a Cowboys fan — will be neutral if he is opposite Dak Prescott in the fall.
Some weeks were slow.
Some included Saturday mornings, because the workload was too heavy to finish in five days.
Johnson wasn’t exactly making NFL rookie money.
“If I got paid on Friday,” Johnson said, “after paying a couple bills, it could be gone by the next Friday easily.”
All the while Johnson’s agent provided the most up-to-date rehab videos to NFL teams and tried to keep his client in the right headspace.
“We built a lot of trust, and he believed me when I told him he was going to have opportunities to work out for teams once he got healthy,” Young said. “I’m proud of him because so many guys in his position would lean on the agent like a bank versus saying, ‘Let me use my hands.’ To have a young man like him willing to learn a trade to provide for himself and still work out and stay committed, he never wavered.”
Johnson researched everything he could on NFL tryouts — uncovering an old story about a postal-service employee getting his shot — to be prepared for March 20.
He suspected it might last just 20 minutes, so he wasn’t thrown for a loop when it was intense but short.
Former Duke teammate Daniel Jones later sent a “long message” congratulating Johnson and welcoming him to the Giants.
“I definitely am a believer in ‘Everything happens for a reason,’ ” Johnson said. “When it happened and the doctor told me, it hit hard, but I didn’t want my parents to see me down or make them feel what I’m going through. I was just ready to stay positive and get to work.”
New work address: 1925 Giants Drive.
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