FAB 2. Bucs Drawn To Johnson’s Speed, Competitiveness

While the Bucs’ most controversial selection of the 2020 NFL Draft may be running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn, NFL Draft analysts regard Minnesota wide receiver Tyler Johnson, Tampa Bay’s fifth-round pick, as one of the best Day 3 values and steals.

“We were all pretty excited,” Bucs director of college scouting Mike Biehl said. “It was pretty unanimous throughout our organization that he was a guy we wanted to add to our receiving group.”

Johnson had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, scoring 12 touchdowns as a junior and 13 as a senior for the Golden Gophers. He totaled 213 catches for 3,305 yards (15.5 avg.) and 33 touchdowns during his Minnesota career.

Johnson had 16 100-yard games for the Golden Gophers, including a career-high 12 catches for a career-high 204 yards and two touchdowns in Minnesota’s Outback Bowl win over Auburn in his final college game.

“We were all at that Auburn game and watched him rip the Tigers up,” Biehl said. “When we drafted him I heard my son in the other room say, ‘That’s the guy that had that unbelievable catch in the back of the end zone!’ Yep, that was him. We saw him and he just continued to produce in big games. Auburn has an NFL-caliber defense and he did a nice job.”

The curious thing about the 6-foot-1, 206-pound Johnson is that no team had a 40-time on him as he didn’t run at the NFL Scouting Combine, nor did he have a pro day due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Johnson had a career average of 15.5 yards per catch, so he appears to be fast enough to be a viable weapon in Bruce Arians’ vertical passing attack.

By comparison, Mike Evans averaged 16.5 yards per catch at Texas A&M, and has averaged 15.7 yards per catch during his six years in Tampa Bay. Evans ran a 4.53 at the NFL Scouting Combine back in 2014. Chris Godwin averaged 15.7 yards per catch at Penn State, and has averaged 15.1 yards per catch in his three years with the Bucs. Godwin ran a 4.42 in Indianapolis.

So it would be logical to assume that Johnson runs somewhere between a 4.45 and a 4.55, but the Bucs used technology to further drill down on exactly how fast he is.

“We did some digging on that using some of the technology that exists to get a feel for what his speed was comparable to,” Bucs director of player personnel John Spytek said. “We’ll never have a 40-time on him, but I think the 40 times are becoming less and less relevant with more and more of this GPS data where you can see real speed on the field. Miles per hour – and there are ways to capture that now [with technology] both at the school and off of film.

“Without giving away all of our secrets we did some digging on that and we have some pretty good comparisons. It was pretty solid and made us feel pretty good in an offense where B.A. and Byron place a premium on speed that he could provide that. No one is saying he’s Scotty Miller fast, but I don’t think we’re going to wake up in September and wish we had a 40-time on this kid because he can’t run. We feel pretty good about him.”

Biehl agreed.

Bucs WR Tyler Johnson – Photo courtesy of Minnesota

“He didn’t get a chance to work out in the spring, so we didn’t have an official 40 on him, but he played fast,” Biehl said. “He’s a little bit like Chris – I’m not comparing him to Chris – but his traits and the way he plays the game are comparable. Everybody thought Chris didn’t play that fast, but then he came out and ran a really fast time. I think Tyler is that way.”

Spytek was drawn to Johnson’s competitiveness in the meetings the team had with him during the offseason. That competitiveness showed up on Saturdays when he would consistently win contested catch situations.

“He was another high achiever in high school,” Spytek said. “He took his high school to the state championship as a quarterback and he has a really good feel and understanding of how to play the game. He’s a good athlete. I think that gets lost sometimes when you look at receivers – the ability to get open. You don’t have to be the fastest player in the world, but there is an art form to it. He marries good feet, good athleticism and the ability to get open.

“Not to put too much credence in one game, but he lit up the Auburn Tigers down here at the Outback Bowl. He’s just a good football player. We were extremely happy to get him and he makes a lot of sense for our wide receiver room because he’s a bigger body. Everyone knows we have Mike and Chris, so from the third to the sixth, you better provide some value on special teams and he does that as well.”

Johnson will compete with Miller and Justin Watson for the right to replace Breshad Perriman as the team’s No. 3 receiver this year. Don’t be surprise if he wins that competition, too.