Silver Lining With 2025 Injuries
May 14th, 2026
Tez Johnson with his 2025 season highlight 45-yard TD catch.
Joe can’t recall a Bucs offense more riddled with injuries than the offense last year. But there was a hidden blessing behind the march to the sideline peep show tent.
Tez Johnson showed the NFL wasn’t too big for him.
A seventh-round rookie pick out of Oregon, Johnson came with the obvious question marks. Generally, seventh-round picks are bubble guys. Maybe special teams guys. Instead, he was pressed into duty and Bucs wide receivers coach Bryan McClendon said Tuesday Tez not just impressed Bucs coaches but showed he can be counted on.
Injuries forced Tez to grow into an NFL player very quickly.
“Yeah, I mean, there’s nothing like game reps, you know? There’s nothing that gets somebody ready more than having to get on the line,” McClendon said of Johnson.
“And there are very real consequences on whether you do it right and we win, or you screw it up and we lose, right?
“… Older guys have been in those situations a lot, so [Bucs coaches] can kind of lean on them a lot right now, and a little bit more in certain situations than you can some of those younger guys.”
But that began to change during the San Francisco win at The Licht House. Mike Evans was out. Chris Godwin was out. Emeka Egbuka left with an injury.
The Bucs were down to a seventh-round pick, Tez, and an undrafted free agent, Kam Johnson, who had a grand total of one target and no catches in his previous 10 NFL games.
Tez came up big with a 45-yard touchdown catch in a 30-19 Bucs win, punctuated by a cartwheel.
“So when we got banged up and [Tez] had to play those game reps, you saw him, you saw the trajectory of him getting better,” McClendon said. “[Tez] just drastically changed for the better just because he got put in those kinds of, you know, life or death situations when it comes to real ball and real life consequences to doing it right and doing it wrong.”
In back-to-back weeks at Seattle and home against San Francisco, Tez had five total catches and a touchdown. After the win over the 49ers, Tez went on a tear: 13 catches and 3 touchdowns in the next four games.
Not too shabby for a seventh-round pick.
The Bucs’ receivers room is deep, no doubt. But now Tez is no longer a stranger to NFL defensive coordinators. They surely have adjusted.
Now, can Tez come up with a counter to those adjustments?
TEZ JOHNSON TD! WHAT A CATCH AND WHAT A FLIP
SFvsTB on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/UtKZZW6YXw
— NFL (@NFL) October 12, 2025
May 14th, 2026 at 6:18 am
Love the end zone flip. Reminds me of Ozzie Smith.
May 14th, 2026 at 6:43 am
one of the top ten catches in bucs history for sure. best play of the crappy year. he did all the same things in college, he’s a play maker and a little stud he just needs continued opportunity to get looks
May 14th, 2026 at 6:49 am
Joe Says: The Bucs’ receivers room is deep, no doubt. But now Tez is no longer a stranger to NFL defensive coordinators. They surely have adjusted.
^^^^^^
But the big question is will the Bucs defensive coordinator adjust and is he capable of doing so?
May 14th, 2026 at 6:57 am
Man….good times….
May 14th, 2026 at 7:46 am
Zac will use Tez in multiple ways that will be way better than the Grizzard did.
There will injuries in the group at some point. Tez and Teddy will answer the bell.
May 14th, 2026 at 7:57 am
There’s going to be a fight for the 5th and possible 6th WR roster spots this summer.
May 14th, 2026 at 8:00 am
The Bucs receiving room was deep last year
But, the offense averaged 16.8 ppg during the last 7 games
Which the Bucs went 2-5, they had zero passing game
Every NFL team receiving room is deep with 6-7 WRs
We were carrying 4 TE, 6 WRs, 4 RBs
And averaged less than 220 passing yards per game
May 14th, 2026 at 8:04 am
Plus category
Good hands
Great open field elusiveness
.
Negative category
Very light weight and build
Average speed
.
He has much better competition for the last WR spot this year
May 14th, 2026 at 8:42 am
We’ve had a million guys like Tez. They had a good little run and then they get hurt or someone offers them a few more bucks. At least this guy had a few good games like Scotty Miller or (Justin?) Watson.. We’re had a heap of hyped up receivers who never did actually have a good game .
May 14th, 2026 at 8:53 am
Justin Watson is not a small WR.
May 14th, 2026 at 9:00 am
“At least this guy had a few good games like Scotty Miller”
I miss Scooter dearly
May 14th, 2026 at 9:45 am
Good video. For all the dolts who say Baker can’t throw long, watch that video again. While you are at it, watch the 65 yard airtime strike to EE in the Seattle game. Tez is an exciting player but have to be careful with him on slant/seam routes where he can really get wacked.
May 14th, 2026 at 9:57 am
Not just a cartwheel, but a flip, too.
May 14th, 2026 at 10:05 am
Man I would demand he stop those crazy touchdown celebrations when were down to two receivers! Awesome yea…but my heart stopped if he came up lame!
May 14th, 2026 at 10:05 am
I don’t think he gained any weight this off season.
Not smart Tez!!!
May 14th, 2026 at 10:09 am
I don’t remember the name but the Bucs signed a UDFA who is short but much thicker and FASTER than Tez…
May 14th, 2026 at 10:17 am
Tez’s competition for his job
.Eric Rivers Jr
“
Strengths: Explosive vertical speed, strong ball-tracking abilities, and effective as a deep threat.
Areas for Improvement: Slight frame (5’10”, 176 lbs) and improving consistency in hands“
4.3 -40
May 14th, 2026 at 10:53 am
Exactly what Joe thought of!
May 14th, 2026 at 11:19 am
Every year we say the receiver room is deep. Every year we lose our top receivers to to injury and struggle to put points on the board.
May 14th, 2026 at 12:22 pm
A 1 point game late in the 3rd quarter and Baker with poise in a collapsing pocket fires a pure strike down field.
What a healthy Baker who trusts his protection can do!
May 14th, 2026 at 2:41 pm
Gipper Says:
May 14th, 2026 at 9:45 am
Good video. For all the dolts who say Baker can’t throw long, watch that video again.
———-
Who says Baker can’t throw long? The issue is accuracy.
Like, for example, see this throw above. He’s got Tez wide open, no one around, and Tez has to match a circus catch to bring it in.
And that’s one of Baker’s better long throws.
May 14th, 2026 at 2:43 pm
Saskbucs Says:
May 14th, 2026 at 12:22 pm
A 1 point game late in the 3rd quarter and Baker with poise in a collapsing pocket fires a pure strike down field.
What a healthy Baker who trusts his protection can do!
————
That’s as clean of a pocket as you get in the NFL on a deep ball – that was not a ‘collapsing’ pocket. Also, as noted above, Baker had time, had a guy wide open, and it took the receiver making an incredible catch to bring it in.
Baker got it close enough, which is what counts in the NFL – but the idea that it was some fantastic throw under pressure. LOL!
May 14th, 2026 at 2:52 pm
There are two for sure things Baker will experience without Mike 13.
First the obvious – If Mike was on the field he had to be accounted for. Especially on Red Zone plays.
Second – Baker and the OC will no longer feel the pressure to make sure Mike gets his 1K season.
I assure you the DC’s of our upcomming opponents will remember the highlight reels of Godwin, EE, Bucky, Jmac and Tez. Now add in the new additions and the TE’s we hardly use. If our Oline is healthy, who are you gameplanning for?
Remember a healthy Baker is also a threat. Baker fan or not, he was a serious MVP canidate through the first 8 games last year and everyone has watched pick up more than just first downs on busted plays more often than not.
And for the opposing OC’s, this year we finally have more than 2-3 players on defense non Buccaneer fans will recognise their names. Bowels will have much better players to coach. You can hate Bowels all you want, but other than last year, Bowels has always stopped the run, been stingy in the RedZone and been on the + side of the turnover battle. More than average in the sack department as well.
The glass is half full folks…
May 14th, 2026 at 6:01 pm
One of those Gator Bois Says:
Remember a healthy Baker is also a threat. Baker fan or not, he was a serious MVP canidate through the first 8 games last year
————-
That’s literally not true.
Week 7 was @Detroit, in his first post-MVP chant game, national TV, first place in the NFC on the line, Buccaneers #1 in the ESPN power poll… and Baker told everyone how great he he was. Then Baker goes out in that game and is flat out terrible.
Week 8 was @Saints, while the defense was dominant and singlehandedly won the game – people forget how poor Baker looked in this game.
Then you had a bye week.
Then, week 9 vs the Patriots, Baker had another terrible game. The defense gave the offense the ball 3 times in a row in the 4th quarter, with a chance to take the lead, and Baker got 0 points out of that. Baker did get some garbage time stats on the last drive once the Pats went to prevent, but he was terrible that game.
May 14th, 2026 at 6:22 pm
@SB~LV… imo, I believe that Tez will be fine. The competition in camp will only progress his acent. He had meaningful snaps and that means something. I do agree that his 40 time of 4.51 isn’t the fastest, but his game speed is different, and the pads dont really affect him.
I’m excited about the level of completion this year in the WR room. There’s a lot of versatility in this stock. Maybe more than there’s ever been.
May 14th, 2026 at 6:24 pm
I believe that Tez will be fine. The competition in camp will only progress his acent. He had meaningful snaps and that means something. I do agree that his 40 time of 4.51 isn’t the fastest, but his game speed is different, and the pads dont really affect him.
I’m excited about the level of completion this year in the WR room. There’s a lot of versatility in this stock. Maybe more than there’s ever been.
May 14th, 2026 at 10:03 pm
I learned more about our offense last year in these comments of this article than almost anything ive read the entire off season.
Excellent work guys
May 16th, 2026 at 9:26 am
Tez is a #1