Juwan Johnson

More episodes

• Week 2Sep 21, 2026

  Juwan Johnson — Week 2: Two Twenty-Fives on Third Down

  Johnson caught all 4 of his targets for 66 yards, 55 of them after the catch, including 25 yards on third and thirteen in the third quarter and 25 more on third and eight to the Baltimore five with 2:03 left, the largest win-probability swing of the game. His 6-yard catch to the one came two snaps before the winning touchdown, in a 24–17 win over the Ravens.

• Week 1Sep 14, 2026

  Juwan Johnson — Week 1: One Touchdown to Tie, One Catch to the Eight

  Johnson caught three of seven targets for fifty-four yards Sunday, and all three catches came in the last seventy-three seconds of regulation and overtime: the nine-yard touchdown that tied it at 24–24 with a minute thirteen left, an eighteen-yard catch on the drive that ran out the clock, and a twenty-seven-yard catch to the Detroit eight in overtime, two snaps before Noah Fant's touchdown. Fant was targeted eight times to Johnson's seven, in a 31–30 loss to the Lions.

• Camp · Aug 31, 2026Aug 31, 2026

  Juwan Johnson Camp Update — August 31: One of Four Tight Ends Kept

  Juwan Johnson is on the initial fifty-three, listed among four tight ends kept on the roster tracker at Audacy, and he appears on none of the reserve lists in the team's Sunday announcement. August ends the way it ran: without a single counted target for him.

• Camp · Aug 23, 2026Aug 23, 2026

  Juwan Johnson Camp Update — August 23: No Targets Yet, More Room Inside

  Juwan Johnson sat out Saturday's game with the rest of the starters, so another week passed without a counted target. Around him, Jordyn Tyson's two-month timeline and an injury to Moliki Matavao thinned the competition for inside work.

• Camp · Aug 16, 2026Aug 17, 2026

  Juwan Johnson Camp Update — August 16: The Shough Connection Has a House in San Diego

  Juwan Johnson spent the offseason sharing a San Diego house with Tyler Shough, and the June read said the Shough connection was the tell for whether his career year repeats. The tell keeps pointing the right way; the targets haven't been counted yet.

• 2026 PreviewJul 3, 2026

  Juwan Johnson 2026 Season Preview — what repeats, what doesn't

  Johnson played all 17 games and averaged 8.3 half-PPR points per game on his way to a TE10 finish, making availability — where he sits at 87.1% over five seasons — the clearest reason the production materialized. The question for any repeat is whether the target volume that drove those numbers holds in a Saints offense with more mouths competing for them, since efficiency-based finishes tend to be far less sticky than role-based ones.

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  Show notes & transcript

  Only two tight ends in football gained more receiving yards last season than Juwan Johnson. He goes off boards seventeenth at the position, pick one-40 — and the offseason New Orleans spent buying pass-catchers is the market's whole argument. The tape says one thing, the depth chart memo says another, and this episode is about which one repeats.

  The season, a career year in year six: all 17 games, 77 catches on a hundred two targets for 889 yards and three touchdowns. 8.3 Half-PPR points a game, sixteenth among tight ends per game, tenth in total points. Third at the position in receiving yards — only Trey McBride and Kyle Pitts had more — and fifth in catches. He drew 18.1 percent of the Saints' targets and caught 75 percent of them, on a six-and-11 team that spent its year auditioning quarterbacks. One flag for later: three touchdowns on a hundred two targets is a cold rate, and cold rates correct too.

  The career took the long road here: an undrafted receiver in 20-20, converted to tight end, then one-two, three-six, seven-one, six-one, six-five — and the leap to eight-three. The volume grew a full step last year: from around four targets a game his whole career to six.

  Now the tight end pattern, read both directions for once. Targets are identity — point-eight year over year in the current era, n of 238 — which cuts for him: a six-target-a-game season is now the most recent evidence of who he is. But the library also knows where those targets came from: a depleted room. The honest question isn't whether his volume sticks — it's whether it was ever his, or just unclaimed.

  Because New Orleans spent the offseason claiming it. Jordyn Tyson at pick eight. Tight end Noah Fant, two years, in March. A third-round tight end, Oscar Delp — drafted primarily to block, per Kellen Moore's own draft comments. Travis Etienne's checkdowns. And Chris Olave, extension-hunting by camp. The counterweight, per nola.com's June reporting: Moore wants more 12-personnel — the Saints ran it on 11 percent of snaps last year, near the league floor by their own accounting — so two tight ends on the field is the stated plan, not a contradiction. Johnson himself, at OTAs: the additions give the offense, quote, a lot of flexibility. The quarterback matters most: Tyler Shough, the committed year-two starter, threw him 521 of the 889 yards in his nine late-season starts, per Louisiana Sports — chemistry the front office restructured his deal around in March, keeping him signed through 20-27.

  The price: TE17 at pick one-40 for the sixteenth tight end by rate and tenth by total — the market prices the new mouths, not the incumbent's scoreboard. Our verdict: no call — the friendly kind. The rate stats sit at the price, the totals sit a tier above it, and we can't verify in July how a hundred two targets divide among four new claimants. Caveat, both ways: if the 12-personnel plan is real, the room got bigger without his slice shrinking — and if Tyson is what eighth picks usually are, last year's share was the high-water mark and TE17 is exactly right.

  Watch September targets against the six-a-game baseline, and his red-zone share — three touchdowns on this volume is the stat most likely to move, in either direction. The Shough connection is the tell: if the first-read looks survive the new toys, the career year wasn't a vacancy — it was a job. If he's on your roster, this show covers all of it — every player, every week, all season.