Saints TE Juwan Johnson: Can No. 14 Player in 2026 Continue Ascent in This Offense?

There were very mixed reactions when the New Orleans Saints signed tight end Juwan Johnson to a three-year contract worth just north of $10 million per year before the 2025 season. And when we say mixed reactions, we mean most Who Dats doubted whether it was wise to spend so much on a player who had mixed results through his first five years.

That doubt turned into something worse the first half of last season when Johnson and Spencer Rattler seemed to often misconnect. Often times, those misconnections were either drops or misplays by Johnson, but whatever the case, there were rough times.

It wasn’t just Johnson and Rattler. Top receiver Chris Olave, who is expected to receive a fat contract very shortly, also had his own issues. All-Everything running back Alvin Kamara showed his first signs of age, and the offensive as a whole was sort of, well, blech.

Much of that changed when Tyler Shough took over for Rattler, especially over the last third of the 2025 campaign, and then move certainly changed the fortunes for Johnson, who has spent his entire career in New Orleans after being an undrafted free-agent signing in 2020.

In nine games, Shough competed 221 passes, and 44 of them were caught by the $30 million tight end, which was second only to Olave’s 51.

With Shough, it’s like a fairy tale thus far for Saints fans, but we all know what happens in those things: It’s such a feel-good, beautiful movie in the first half, but the story gets dark for quite a bit before that expected feel-good, fuzzy ending takes place.

What about Shough’s fairy tale? How far into the show are we? And what does it mean for Johnson, who will turn 30 on Opening Day 2026, as he begins his seventh season?

Let’s take a deeper dive into this year’s No. 14 most-important Saints player:

Please share your thoughts on our Top 25 Saints Heading Into 2026 by emailing the Saints On SI Publisher and Beat Writer Jim Derry at jim@jimderry.com.

Why is Johnson so important?

It seems like every decent offense that has ever worked in New Orleans has had not just a good tight end, but one who was near the top of the ledger in the league.

On this day in #Saints history (2/7/2010), Drew Brees hits Jeremy Shockey for a TD with 5:42 to play putting the Saints up 24-17 after @LanceMoore16's 2pt conversion in Superbowl XLIV! pic.twitter.com/lsnBlYSZn2
— New Orleans Saints History (@SaintsHistory) February 7, 2022

Jimmy Graham wasn’t here for very long, but he did things never done before for this franchise. Hoby Brenner was about as fast as a tortoise coming off steroids, but he was consistent and played here for 13 seasons. Henry Childs was one of Archie Manning’s top weapons, and Jeremy Shockey was key in the Super Bowl season of 2009.

On this day in #Saints history (9/25/2011), Drew Brees throws a 27-yard TD pass to Jimmy Graham! Saints would go on to defeat the Texans 40-33! Brees was 31/44 370 yards 3 TDs and Graham had 4 catches for 100 & a TD! #WhoDat #WhoDatNation pic.twitter.com/N5S857fZ9f
— New Orleans Saints History (@SaintsHistory) September 26, 2025

Meanwhile, Johnson has a chance to become a top-five all-time tight end in team history if he finishes out his contract and has two more years like last year.

And this year, it will be even more important for him to be successful, as the Saints try to not to rush first-round pick Jordyn Tyson.

I have said for more than a week Jordyn Tyson was the best pick for the #Saints. They went out and got him. Here's my grade and analysis. https://t.co/OYJKbD88Rk #NFL #NFLDraft
— Jim Derry (@JimDerryJr) April 24, 2026

Johnson will need to be better in the red zone and give Shough a target opposite Olave, and that would mean catching more than three touchdown passes as he did in 2025.

Recent season stats

Last year wasn’t just the best season of Johnson’s career, but it was the best by a bunch. In fact, the 44 receptions he had from Shough alone were just six fewer than the most he had ever had in any previous season.

In all, he finished with 77 receptions for 889 yards with 102 targets.

That was the third straight season his receptions and yardage had improved after he had 37-368 in 2023 and 50-548 in 2024.

Johnson’s strengths and weaknesses

His size – 6-4, 230 pounds, often makes him a mismatch against either an opposing cornerback or linebacker. He is able to find open space and even when he doesn’t, he’s good at making a contested catch.

Juwan Johnson tips it to himself 😮

CARvsNO on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/kDiCJEFW2M
— NFL (@NFL) December 14, 2025

Johnson also is one of the top players at his position when it comes to yards after the catch, which is a big obvious boost for Shough and Coach Kellen Moore’s offense.

However, consistency has been an issue and a thorn in the side of Saints fans. According to NFL statistics, Johnson had six drops in 17 games last year, which he certainly would like to improve upon.

And as we said he can make the contested catch sometimes look routine, he also will sometimes miss one that hits him between the 8 and the 3.

Background

Johnson was born Sept. 13, 1996, in Stratford, NJ. He played prep football at Glassboro High School and was the 12th-ranked wide receiver in the nation by 247 Sports.

He chose Penn State over Alabama, Georgia Tech, Michigan State and others.

In three seasons with the Nittany Lions, he caught 81 passes for 1,123 yards and two touchdowns before transferring to Oregon for his senior season, and he caught 30 passes for 467 yards and four touchdowns.