Juwan Johnson
Johnson is the Saints' lead tight end, but his production has dried up over the last three games, and the offense around him is struggling.
Role
He leads the team's tight ends in playing time. RotoWire's snap table (undated, so treat it with caution) shows him at 284 snaps (68%) and 175 routes, ahead of Noah Fant at 66% and the other tight ends at 43%. FantasyData had him outsnapping Fant 158-109 through Week 3. He has 34 targets on the year per RotoWire, against 32 per PFF, so the sources differ slightly. Rotoworld had him third on the team in targets in Week 4, behind Chris Olave and Devaughn Vele. Competition for the work comes from Fant, from Olave and Vele, and from rookie WR Jordyn Tyson, who had not yet played as of the Week 4 and 5 reports. I did not read a current depth chart page.
He is the clear TE1 by snaps and routes, and he started the year well. He caught 8 of 8 for 53 yards and two touchdowns in Week 3, and 6 of 8 for 59 yards in Week 4. FantasyData said he had built a strong rapport with QB Tyler Shough. PFF graded him 13th of 33 qualified tight ends, and his target count ranked 9th among them. Weeks 5 through 7 look like a low-efficiency stretch for the whole offense, and Rotoworld's note on the position was that the tight ends were non-factors as a group in Week 6.
He is now three straight games without more than 16 receiving yards (CBS). He had 4 catches for 16 yards in Week 5, no catches on two targets in Week 6, and 1 catch for 7 yards in Week 7. Rotoworld said Shough's broken bones in his non-throwing hand are tightening the passing game and leaving Johnson less room. He is 30, his average depth of target is only 5.7 yards (PFF), and the Saints' offense is scoring little. Tyson's eventual debut could also take targets from him.
Where analysts split
The open question is whether the three-game slump comes from Shough's hand injury and a weak offense, which would be temporary, or from a real loss of role, with Tyson's eventual arrival adding to the risk. NBC called Week 7 another clunker after a solid first four weeks. Rotoworld called him a back-end TE1 while Tyson stayed sidelined, then a TE2 for Week 7. I found no analyst arguing that his snap lead is in danger.
Research confidence: reported. Outlooks are grounded in web search over current reporting and refreshed through the season.
Others at TE
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