If only his Gram could see Alexander Johnson now.

He took over as a starter at inside linebacker for the Broncos only 10 games ago. Johnson has been a beast, recording 78 tackles, firmly establishing himself as a reason to believe better days are ahead for a team that’s doomed to miss the NFL playoffs for a fourth consecutive year.

“I’m Chief Beast,” said Johnson, invoking his preferred nickname.

He’s a linebacker who shrieks like velociraptor from the “Jurassic Park” movies when he makes a big play on the field. And Johnson has often wreaked havoc from sideline to sideline since making his first NFL start at age 27 against the Los Angeles Chargers in October.

This beast is hungry. He wants more. Much more. His football goals are so unabashedly large Johnson dares to dream of doing what no inside linebacker in franchise history, from Randy Gradishar to Al Wilson, has ever achieved.

“One of my goals is to make it to the Hall of Fame,” Johnson told me.

And that’s not all.

“I want to play football until age 40,” Johnson insisted.

Say what? A 40-year-old human body was not meant to make tackles.

“Obviously, that’s unseen and unheard of at my position,” Johnson said. “But I’m going to keep pushing to that goal.”

The Broncos took a chance on Johnson, signing him as a free agent in 2018, after the former University of Tennessee linebacker was acquitted of rape, his pro career delayed more than three years as Johnson’s case worked its way through the legal system.

“I’m really not going to talk about that much,” Johnson said.

What he does like to talk about is his motivation for building a career eventually worthy of enshrinement in Canton, Ohio. He wants to pay tribute to his late grandmother.

“My grandma, who passed away from Alzheimer’s, she used to call me her Hall of Famer. So that’s one of my goals. Most people just want to get to the NFL. That never was my goal. My goal was always to be one of the best in the NFL,” Johnson said.

“Make it to the Hall of Fame. So I’ve just got to take it day by day, stepping-stone by stepping-stone, to get that piece. One of the biggest milestones you can probably ever get is being a Hall of Famer. And that’s something my grandma used to call me all the time: her Hall of Famer. That’s something deep in me. It’s close to my heart. It’s something I’ve got to fight for each time you’re on that field.”

Johnson called her Gram. She passed away in 2018. During a life well-lived, she helped feed the homeless in Gainesville, Ga.

After the Broncos lost to Kansas City in the snow, I asked Johnson what he missed most about his late grandmother during the holiday season.

“I think about her every day, especially when I walk on the football field,” Johnson said. “She was a smart, strong, powerful woman.”

Johnson will celebrate his 28th birthday on Christmas Eve. To reach his goal of being on the field as a linebacker at age 40, he will have to be on an NFL roster until at least 2031, when not more than a handful of his current teammates will still be employed in the league.

“I want to be an old-school football player, flying around to the ball, having a lot of energy and excitement,” Johnson said. “I want to be like a prehistoric football player. Like a dinosaur … or a saber tooth … or a woolly mammoth. One of those big, beastly animals that you don’t want to mess with.”

Mark your calendar now for August 2036, for when the Chief Beast invades Canton to rumble through the doors of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.