It is not quite Thanksgiving yet, but the Bucs’ offense has to be thankful for the contributions they have received from their rookie wide receivers.

Everyone knows about Emeka Egbuka’s immediate stardom, but Tez Johnson has emerged as a key offensive weapon over the past month. Head coach Todd Bowles and offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard have seen Johnson’s progress in becoming more comfortable and building chemistry with quarterback Baker Mayfield. His consistency has been a lifesaver for a position group that has needed every bit of it and will continue to for the rest of the year.

Tez Johnson Is Progressing And “Finding His Place” Within Bucs’ Offense

As the 235th overall pick of the 2025 NFL Draft, the Bucs rounded out their draft class by selecting Tez Johnson. In a room with Mike Evans, Chris Godwin Jr., Jalen McMillan, and Emeka Egbuka, Johnson was not expected to be much more than a return specialist.

Bucs WRs Chris Godwin, Tez Johnson and Ryan Miller and WRs coach Bryan McClendon – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Turns out, Johnson became much more vital for Tampa Bay’s offense, as Evans, Godwin, and McMillan are recovering from significant injuries. After just one catch for eight yards through four weeks and playing just 25.7% of the offensive snaps, he has since recorded at least 42 yards in each of the last five games, totaling 247 yards and adding four touchdowns. That increase in production can be partly credited to an increase in playing time (Johnson has played 66.1% of offensive snaps during the stretch), but his growth cannot be ignored.

“I mean, he’s progressed – obviously by force, and by need,” Todd Bowles said this past week. “We’re playing with two rookie receivers right now, but they don’t play like rookies. Tez has been thrown into a lot of things. Offensively, from a route standpoint, it’s very complicated to learn all the things that he has to learn, but he’s getting very comfortable that way. He’s a heck of a competitor, he’s not going to turn anything down, and he’s really coming into his own, finding his place in this offense.”

Carving out a role has meant building more of a connection with Baker Mayfield on short and deep throws. Mayfield went into this season taking ownership of the offense and spoke publicly about bringing the younger players up to speed. Josh Grizzard has seen his signal-caller trust Johnson more, especially in high-stake moments and when staying alive in scramble situations. While Grizzard has enjoyed seeing that, he also wants to get him involved earlier in games.

Bucs WR Tez Johnson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“The chemistry on the practice side of it is definitely something you see more because he’s in there with the ones now so he’s getting all the throws and routes on air, he’s getting all the throws in practice,” Grizzard said of Johnson taking on more responsibility. “In terms of how the game unfolds, I wouldn’t say he just ended up finding him late – there are still things designed for him early and getting it to him and the ball just didn’t go his direction.

“But I thought Tez did a really good job on both of those touchdowns on essentially turning it into a scramble drill and having the wherewithal to not run out of bounds and be in the right area. ‘Bake’ (Baker Mayfield) talked about it, too – on a lot of these scrambles, they’re not designed for ‘Bake’ to run it – we’re trying to get these guys in the right spots to throw it, and Tez did a really nice job on both of those, on, really, two critical plays in the game.”

Tez Johnson Weighs In On Becoming More Consistent, Heading Up To Buffalo

Talking with Pewter Report after Thursday’s practice, Tez Johnson weighed in after hearing the comments made by Todd Bowles and Josh Grizzard. Asked about the relationship he has with Baker Mayfield, that trust has been building since the moment he came to Tampa Bay.

“It’s fun,” Johnson said. “You always love to have a quarterback like that. Always just pointing to the rookies, Baker has been doing that since Day 1. Building that trust is very important, because you never know when your time is coming.”

Johnson has made the most of his time to shine, but every game is a new challenge. Different opponents mean he is constantly in a state of refinement.

Bucs WR Tez Johnson, Photo by: USA Today

“I still have a lot of growing to do,” Johnson said. “Yes, thank God for the success that I’m having because without Him there’s no success, period. I feel like I still got things to grow in. Each week I’m learning, every time I go into a game. Learning something different, or I got to do something different that I got to get better at for the next opponent. Shoutout to my teammates, just staying there with me and encouraging me throughout the entire time because they know it’s not an easy thing to learn. It’s been pretty fun.”

A fun moment for “Tezmania” came in the fourth quarter of last week’s game against the Patriots. Looking to draw closer down 28-16, Mayfield threw a laser to Johnson in the right corner of the endzone for an 11-yard touchdown to make it 28-23 and provide a sliver of hope. Asked about coming down with the throw, he thought it was just a moment to make a play.

“You see it before in practice, it’s just routine. It’s just me doing my job, staying alive, just being another asset to Baker. Going out there knowing he can make a play at any time, so when he threw the ball, I was doing my job. Locking in on the ball, catch the ball, that’s my job. I don’t want to make any part of that job any harder.”

Sunday afternoon’s game against the Bills is the latest test for Tez Johnson and the Bucs. Johnson will look to continue his productivity against a stingy Buffalo defense.

“They’re a very good defense. Their coach is really good at making them be in the right position, we just have to go out there and execute. It’s going to be a chess match. Excited to go up there to Buffalo and play against them. Like I said, defense is really good. They have a few keys to their defense that’s really helping them out a lot. Looking forward to it.”