Juwan Johnson

Juwan Johnson turned himself into a scoring tight end and the numbers this fall back it up. Last year he went from 8.19 points a game to 10.58, caught 889 yards, TE3 among 137 qualifying tight ends, and finished TE8. Through five weeks of 2026 he is at 13.2 a game, better than the 9.2 preseason pace we set for him, and he has played every week.

The upgrade is the red zone. His red-zone share of his own touches sat at 7.8% in 2025, TE94 among 126. This season it is 15% of the team's red-zone carries and targets in his games, 7 of 46, TE6 among 23 tight ends with 20 or more carries and targets of their own. Three touchdowns in five games follow from that. Kellen Moore and Doug Nussmeier are back calling the same offense, so the situation has not changed around him.

What keeps this from being a clean ride is that the scoring is doing all the work. He is pulling just 10% of New Orleans' air yards, TE19 among that same 23-tight-end group, and he is losing 0.1 yards after the catch per catch against expectation, TE13 among 20. Week 5 of 2026 showed the low end, 5.6 points, when the touchdowns dry up. He is 30 and caught 25 of 32 targets, so the hands are fine, but the yardage base is shallow.

We had him at 138 points for the season, TE13 on our board. He is ahead of that pace. Keep starting him, and just plan around the week 8 of 2026 bye.