Widely thought to be facing a roster crunch at the receiver position, the Buccaneers have moved on from a notable name buried down the depth chart. Tampa Bay is waiving Tyler Johnson, reports Greg Auman of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The 2020 fifth-rounder had a modest rookie season, recording 169 yards on 12 receptions. He took a step forward in terms of production last year, notching 36 catches for 360 yards. Still, he faced a long list of names ahead of him in the pecking order amongst Tampa’s other pass-catchers.
Already touting one of the league’s best WR tandems with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, the Buccaneers made a pair of significant additions in free agency this offseason. The arrivals of Russell Gage and, more recently, Julio Jones, left the team with a well-defined group at the top of the depth chart. That left Johnson among several noteworthy wideouts in danger of finding themselves on the roster bubble.
It was reported earlier this month that the undrafted trio of Jerreth Sterns, Deven Thompkins and Kaylon Geiger would the make position’s logjam even harder to clear. Those three, especially given their ability to contribute on special teams, left the statuses of incumbents like Johnson and Cyril Grayson in doubt. The latter had already been waived, and 2019 sixth-rounder Scotty Miller could join them.
Tampa Bay has plenty of firepower in the passing game still, and will see just under $2MM in cap savings with this move. Johnson, meanwhile, will be a name to watch on the waiver wire given his age and draft status.
Bears should really take a flyer, he literally can only be equal to what we have at worst, WR depth chart can only improve for the Bears no matter who they add
Absolutely. Churn that roster. And if there’s any team whose wide receiver cuts are likely to be viable contributors elsewhere, Tampa’s way up there.
Packers?
I guess he can return to the NBA now.
And NHL
I remembers when fans talked so much you-know-what to Matt Miller about his observations of Tyler Johnson.
Turns out Miller was right.
Patriots interested?
This is a bitting shocking, even considering how loaded the Bucs are at receiver. Johnson is a pretty good name to pick up for a number of WR needy teams.
Will Julio or somebody else be the red zone guy who gets Gronk’s catches from a year ago?