Is Tez Johnson A Surprise?
June 25th, 2026
No reason to flip out.
For Joe, there is no question who the Bucs’ top-three receivers are.
There’s “Unc” Chris Godwin, who looks to be the same ol’ Chris Godwin. And, of course, Emeka Egbuka and surely Jalen McMillen should get a ton of snaps.
Joe believes rookie third-round pick Ted Hurst could become a top-three guy and the Bucs will bring him along in due time. Next up would be Tez Johnson, who showed last year as a rookie that the NFL was not too big for him.
In a list of the biggest surprises for each NFL team from underwear football season, Jenna Laine of ESPN believes the biggest for the Bucs was the way Johnson practiced.
Maybe this won’t shock a lot of people, considering Johnson was pressed into action extensively last year in his rookie season and had five touchdowns, but in arguably the most competitive room on the team, Johnson stood out. He had two touchdown catches from Jake Browning in the final June practice and caught several others.
To Joe, Tez looked solid this spring. The word “solid” keeps coming to mind after watching Tez but Joe thinks another word could be used. That would be “confident.”
Again, Tez showed he can hang with the big boys last year. His production waned late in the year, as maybe defenses learned to guard him better. But Tez sure looked like (last year and this spring) that he can hang with NFL defenders.
Yeah, the Bucs will miss Mike Evans. How could they not? But their wide receiver room is deep with guys like Hurst and Tez who aren’t expected to start.
June 25th, 2026 at 9:07 am
Our GM is arguably the Best at drafting WRs in the whole league. I am 100% confident in Tez and Ted to be vital parts of our passing attack.
June 25th, 2026 at 9:09 am
He has some wow factors but I hope he fixes 1 negative that stood out. Several times last year there was a problem with 2 receivers in the same spot. This usually means someone ran the wrong route. Unfortunately he was the common factor in each case. If he fixes this he could be even better this year.
June 25th, 2026 at 9:15 am
I watch Oregon football on the reg – so – NO! This is not a surprise at all for me.
Tez has special abilities. The kid is a freak at finding the first down marker…
June 25th, 2026 at 9:20 am
“Again, Tez showed he can hang with the big boys last year. His production waned late in the year, as maybe defenses learned to guard him better.”
Maybe part of the reason, but Egbukas’ numbers also waned down the stretch.
Not rocket science as to how/why those rookies’ numers trailled off once we got Mike, Chris, & J-Mac back. I’ll take Tez over Shep though, but I don’t want him out on screen plays having to block(get in the way of) CBs or safeties crashing down. Still think he loses snaps to Ted before the end of 2026.
June 25th, 2026 at 9:38 am
He’s finished growing. He’s just a little fella. Good thing he’s a master at avoiding tackles. I think he’s the most exciting player we’ve got. He’s got some major juju. I believe we could run 4 wideouts. Line Tez up in the backfield and put him in motion. If we can stay healthy this year there are gonna be descriptions of opponents defenses such as bloodbath’s, etc.
It’s been said “There is a season”. So true. There are multiple seasons. Harvest season is my favorite season. Bring the wheelbarrow boys!!
June 25th, 2026 at 9:41 am
Gonna be a fun year
June 25th, 2026 at 10:03 am
Jose, I hear a little bit of doubt in your voice regarding Johnson. Not in mine. He will be every bit as good as the other guys.
June 25th, 2026 at 10:12 am
Has he bulked up?
June 25th, 2026 at 10:18 am
Tez certainly has juice, unfortunately he has the same head coach as last year.
June 25th, 2026 at 10:40 am
The big time offensive get this spring was Hurst. If he can develop into a TJ Higgins type, talk about a way to round out the room.
Besides the emotions there was no reason to tie up extra money in Evans at his age with the hamstring.