The Tez Johnson Bomb
October 17th, 2025
How a touchdown happened.
This is why Bucs wide receivers coach Bryan McClendon is getting so many accolades.
A backup, No. 6 rookie wide receiver Tez Johnson, shouldn’t be doing what he’s accomplished. But Tez Johnson used his smarts and was clearly coached up to pull this off.
Baker Mayfield yesterday noted the 45-yard touchdown bomb to Johnson in the second half Sunday was largely because Johnson recognized the coverage and adjusted his route mid-play from a crossing route to basically a go-route.
“[It] was supposed to go across the field, good adjustment on Tez’s part,” Mayfield said. “Safety is waiting on the other side for him, so he just takes it up the middle.
“It is not necessarily a busted coverage. They had it covered well if you run the drawings on the paper, but Tez making an adjustment on the fly. That is huge for a rookie to be able to do and do it confidently in the midst of a game like that, especially in that moment.”
Former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho, who hosts “Speakeasy” on YouTube, while impressed with Johnson, said it was equally a smart play by Mayfield to recognize Johnson changed his route.
Acho called Mayfield’s ability to help lure defenders away from Johnson with a pump fake, “Genius.”
Baker Mayfield explained the Tez Johnson touchdown to us postgame, so I had to go find the play, and WOW. This is why Baker Mayfield is the NFL MVP right now… #AchoAnalysis| @speakeasytlkshw| @Buccaneers pic.twitter.com/xy5DJAMzUn
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) October 13, 2025
October 17th, 2025 at 7:24 am
Watching the subtitles reminds me of how bad my voice texting comes through if I don’t proof read it.
October 17th, 2025 at 7:56 am
One exciting play surely to make highlight reals!! His first NFL TD too!! That’s one to remember!!
October 17th, 2025 at 8:27 am
more to come!!!!
6-1!!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
October 17th, 2025 at 8:29 am
i hope tez doesn’t start ad libbing too much now haha
October 17th, 2025 at 8:57 am
If you watch, early in the game Baker had a connection issue with Egbuka where Egbuka got open and Baker missed, thinking he would go deep and ended up throwing behind him. Tez Johnson was paying attention, and learned from that.
October 17th, 2025 at 9:01 am
Tez is going to continue to impress. I expect him to have an impact on Monday night. He’s a big play dude!
October 17th, 2025 at 9:08 am
Pink, I think those two misses to Egbuka were on Mayfield. If I recall correctly, Baker threw behind him on one and maybe on both. It happens. But not often so far this year. Baker has been on the mark in 2025
October 17th, 2025 at 9:11 am
Sorry Pink. I misread your comment. Ignore the above if you will!
October 17th, 2025 at 9:43 am
What also impressed me is Tez’s speed. He’s fast as well as coordinated. He blew by those 49er DBs almost like they’re standing still. These are quality secondary players. I can only imagine what he’ll do in Detroit with their beat up secondary??? Go Bucs!!
October 17th, 2025 at 10:27 am
It’s all Tez. Sure coaching helps, but this guy is a player.
And I think 99% of us watching that it was overthrown. This kid’s surge to reach it was phenomenal.
When he puts on another 20 lbs., this guy is going to mow this league down.
“What took you so long?” He perhaps the greatest draft moment this year.
October 17th, 2025 at 10:32 am
That play is when Team Aqualung broke out the good stuff.
October 17th, 2025 at 12:10 pm
Not bad for a 4.51 guy who finished 29th out of 39 WRs time at the combine. Next year people will continue to make the same mistake. Watch players game speed and only use the 3 cone, 40 and splits as additional information.
October 17th, 2025 at 12:21 pm
Tex has bad hands. Bucs fans need to temper their enthusiasm. That was a 1 out of 100 catch. Will likely never see anything like this again from Tez. Similar to the HOF for Evans. Just too many drops. Just Doesn’t have the hands.
October 17th, 2025 at 12:36 pm
Bad take. He has great hands. He’s caught every accurate pass that baker has thrown and even some inaccurate ones. He caught every target during the Seahawks game. What makes you say that?
October 17th, 2025 at 12:59 pm
Jeff, if you don’t get help at charter, get help somewhere.
October 17th, 2025 at 1:01 pm
Jeff what are you like 12 ? I don’t know what your problem with Bucs is but I wish you would go ahead and pick the Lions this week because you are wrong 100% of the time.
October 17th, 2025 at 1:13 pm
Acho is on that yay.
Bad hands? That’s insane. That was a great catch. Some people man
October 17th, 2025 at 1:22 pm
Tez will show up against Detroit.
October 17th, 2025 at 1:26 pm
Jeff is lonely and wants attention.
October 17th, 2025 at 1:35 pm
@ orl,
Yes, he is fast but only if there’s no stopwatches. (He didn’t record a blazing 40 time – ~4.5 if I recall correctly?)
Would love to see how fast he was going on that play.
October 17th, 2025 at 2:18 pm
Tez will continue to produce as long as Grizz/Baker keep him involved.
And he won’t need to gain 20 lbs. There are plenty of skinnyazz players in the league.
And he runs good routes and he has great hands.
Where do y’all even get these ideas?
Tez just needs to keep calm and keep grinding on the details and he/we will be fine 👍🏼
October 17th, 2025 at 2:54 pm
The definition of a troll is leaving comments solely to see what kind of feedback you get, knowing yourself that the comment is ridiculous. Get a life dude. Talking to you. Jeffrey.
October 17th, 2025 at 2:58 pm
From ai in regard to tez
10-Yard Split: Johnson ran a 1.53-second 10-yard split, ranking 11th out of 19 wide receivers who participated in the drill. This was considered a relatively good time, demonstrating his initial quickness off the line.
20-Yard Shuttle: Johnson’s time of 4.15 seconds in the 20-yard shuttle ranked fourth among the 12 wide receivers who ran the drill. This was a strong showing and highlighted his impressive agility and change-of-direction abilities, according to oregonlive.com.
These strong performances in the agility drills contrasted with his 40-yard dash time of 4.51 seconds, which was slower than expected for a player of his size. However, his agility scores demonstrated a different aspect of his athleticism and suggest that his “game speed” may be better than his 40-yard dash time might indicate
October 17th, 2025 at 2:59 pm
JOE block that Troll please ffs
October 17th, 2025 at 3:31 pm
Since I first watched the NFL in 1966, this was the greatest TD Catch I’ve ever seen.
October 17th, 2025 at 4:24 pm
If I remember correctly, Tez points it out pre-snap. That is not changing mid play. That is good coaching and film work that he recognized it in his pre-snap read and pointed it out to Baker. The second time they show the replay you can see him point it out. Good Coaching, good preparation.
October 17th, 2025 at 5:07 pm
Jason Anthony Sturgess Says:
Since I first watched the NFL in 1966, this was the greatest TD Catch I’ve ever seen.
^^^^^^^^^^
Great catch. I thought about this too. It’s my #3:
1. 2021 TB12 to Scottie Miller vs GB
2. 2003 Joe Juivus tipped a pass to himself vs Eagles
3. 2025 Baker to Tez vs 49ers
October 17th, 2025 at 5:30 pm
lol no way Joe blocks that guy unless he gets too profane or threatens someone. The Joes know every one of yall are coming back to check to see if someone responded to them—every time it’s $$$.
October 17th, 2025 at 5:45 pm
Looking at this play closely…isn’t it Sluggo Seam?
October 17th, 2025 at 6:13 pm
Bingo @Funderstruck 😎
October 17th, 2025 at 7:09 pm
I thought that was one of the best catches this year!!!!! The rookie changed his route and freaking ran past the defense and then made an incredible finger tip catch. If that wasn’t one of the best rookie plays ever tell me a better one. So getting real was that a sign of his future or just a onetime event? Too early to know but bring it on kid if you can!!!
October 17th, 2025 at 7:58 pm
Overthrown?……if Tez was as tall as the average WR in the league that pass would have been dead on…..and not near as WHOAAA!!! worthy. Much more fun to watch as it was.
I saw an interview where Tez stated that he makes a conscious effort to avoid being hit….the play in Seattle where he ducked down to avoid being sandwiched by two defenders, resulting in the defenders colliding with one another was a great example of that. It was a subtle move but it was quite effective.
He’s a smart player….except for recognizing fan chants from the stand but that’s ok.
October 17th, 2025 at 11:36 pm
As long as he can remain in one piece, since he’s only 160 pounds, TEZ is going to be a very dynamic player. And let’s not count out KAM. He was the main go to guy that game and if you watch his catches, he is an extremely good route runner.
Johnson & Johnson, along with Evans and Shepherd, will be just fine Monday!
Crazy that is WR1 and WR5, WR6, & WR7. What incredible depth.