Oregon WR Tez Johnson Is A VERY RISKY Pick: 2025 NFL Draft

AtoZ Sports

Joe DeLeone and Ryan Roberts break down 2025 NFL Draft prospect from Oregon football Tez Johnson. Tune in for a full Tez Johnson Scouting Report

Transcript

00:00Tez Johnson might be way too small to succeed in the NFL. Here's why we're worried.

00:08We're incredibly concerned about Tez Johnson's size. How does it affect his draft stock after

00:14coming into the NFL combine at 151? Ryan, should we be more worried about this?

00:21We should be very, very worried about this, Joe. I was literally looking at mock draftable this

00:25morning, and since the year 1999, there have only been three wide receivers drafted that are less

00:31than 160 pounds. That is J.J. Nelson out of UAB in the 2015 class, Tutu Atwell, 2021 class,

00:38who's only 155 pounds, and then Aaron Lockett in the 2002 class out of Kansas State was the only

00:45other wide receiver below 160 pounds. And my biggest concern, though, is not necessarily

00:50the weights, right? Because we talk about betting on outliers occasionally, and if there is a guy

00:55that has a overcompensating trait, like if Tez Johnson went to the combine and ran

01:004-3, you'd be like, okay, look, he's small, but he's still fast, right? And you can overcompensate,

01:07you can find a role for him. The fact that he, and I know he tested well in the short area stuff,

01:11the fact though that we are talking about a undersized, historically wide receiver that

01:16also isn't a burner by all those metrics, right? That worries you because ultimately,

01:23this is an outlier and an outlier of the most epic proportions.

01:28Right. I think that's the biggest part about this. People always, I don't think truly understand

01:33the purpose of having the testing and what we're supposed to do with it. When you have concerns

01:38about a guy's size, if he runs well, or he has really prolific numbers in particular categories,

01:44it can maybe help us restructure our projection and our thoughts on him.

01:49Long speed for receiver is very, very important. He was very shifty, and we knew coming into this

01:53that he was going to be very shifty. He better have tested well in the short

01:57area testing numbers like he did running a 6-6-5 in the three cone, a 4-1-5 in the 20 yard shuttle,

02:03some of the best times amongst receivers at the 2025 NFL Combine. But the 4-5-1 that he runs

02:09does call into question, does he really have that extra gear to separate?

02:14I take this really even further. Even though he has on film a lot of instances where he's

02:19blown past dudes, that's on there. For him to last in the NFL, he can't be 154 pounds.

02:26He has to put on more weight. Tank Dell, who we're going to get to at the very end of this,

02:30is a good example of how when you're that light, your body quite literally cannot sustain

02:36NFL hits, NFL contact without getting broken down and suffering a lot of injuries.

02:41So Tez Johnson has to put on weight, and putting on weight makes him even slower than 4-5-1.

02:47So that's where we need to bring all this up and talk about, because something has to change here.

02:51He either has to play at a very low weight and risk injury, or he has to add more weight and

02:56risk getting slower. And let's forget the injury part for a second, because I want to

03:01come at it this way, of the size and the profile he brings. By his testing numbers,

03:08we can at least come to a conclusion potentially that this is a quicker player than he is

03:13straight line fast, which is fine. We've seen guys be quicker than fast. But the problem is,

03:17is that when we're talking about quick separators, guys that run and break off routes and are really

03:22clean and short to intermediate separators, that's perfect, except when you're 154 pounds.

03:26Because what's happening, Joe, you're playing within traffic. You're a middle of the field

03:30separator. You're probably going to play mostly in the slots. And in that situation,

03:34you're playing against linebackers. You're playing against safeties.

03:36They're blasting you.

03:37Yes. And you're playing in tighter windows, ultimately. And that work for me is really

03:44troubling. I don't want to see slot receivers that are 154 pounds. I want to see a guy that

03:48has a little bit more meat on the bone that can sustain contact, that can work through contact.

03:52The fact that he isn't that type of physical athlete does worry me about the projection for

03:58him to be that short intermediate separator from the slot.

04:01It's a common misconception that when we have a really small receiver,

04:04that he automatically plugs into the slot. But some of the best slot receivers in the NFL today

04:10and in NFL history might've been short, but they were strong and they carried good weight.

04:15Tyreek Hill is like a really easy example. He is really freaking strong as he is fast.

04:20He's able to work through contact if he needs to. And he's able to like really quickly separate

04:25from linebackers and safety so they can't even get hands on him. So the concerns for

04:30Tez Johnson, they are legitimate. I think that we can't completely look past him,

04:34but he can still go on to have a successful career in the NFL.

04:37What are some of the strengths though that we can highlight here? I think that it's

04:41a little tricky to like really pinpoint what he did well at Oregon that translates to the NFL,

04:46because Will Stein's system does accentuate and help these guys get open a lot easier than they

04:52will in the NFL. Hence why Troy Franklin took a little bit to get going with the Denver Broncos

04:57in his first season. We discussed it though. He's really quick footed. He is super, super

05:02quick footed. Oh, he's, he's going to be able to get open. There's no doubt about it. He's

05:06quick footed. And I think the big thing is, is even though, even if he doesn't have like a true

05:10crazy long gear, he does get up to top speed very fast, right? Like he's a quick,

05:15quick, quick separator and he's good with the ball in his hands ultimately. Right?

05:19So there's way to design touches, whether it's in the screen game, whether it's shallow crosses,

05:22like that type of stuff. I do think that he has the opportunity to win after the catch at a pretty

05:27nice rate. So this is a guy that you're going to try to work into space. And if he gets some space,

05:32I do think that he is a dynamic short area mover and a quick accelerator.

05:36Ryan, let's talk about his background. Very interesting story on how he got here to Oregon,

05:41to the NFL draft. We've heard a lot about how he moved in with Bo Nix's family. They went to the

05:47same high school, uh, adopted family. He ended up at Troy originally as a three-star recruit was

05:54actually the 275th ranked receiver in his class, the 2020 class. And then he goes on to Oregon to

06:02have a fantastic career to finish things off as one of the best receivers in the country in 2024.

06:09Well, and Joe, do you know why he was ranked so low as a recruit? Because out of high school,

06:13out of Pinson Valley in Alabama, he was 138 pounds, Joe, 138 pounds. Obviously he ends up at

06:21Troy. He did some really good stuff, especially his last two years to Troy. And then he goes on

06:25to Oregon and he's a dynamic player. The last two years, just in the last two years, 2080 yards,

06:29receiving and 20 touchdowns at Oregon. Funny enough, that's more receptions, receiving yards

06:34and touchdowns in his two years at Oregon than he had in three years at Troy. So he was a good

06:39player at Troy. He was an even better player at Oregon, which gives you some thought of like,

06:43Hey, maybe he can continue to grow and potentially put on good weight and continue to, to kind of

06:48prove doubters wrong. Ultimately, we are talking about 138 pound G5 wide receiver who turned into

06:55one of the best and most productive wide receivers on the power forward level the last two years.

07:00And it all started with a under-recruited background that has now led him to potential

07:05draft pick in the NFL. Yeah, definitely a story that you can root for. I know it sounds like we're

07:10being super critical of Tez Johnson, but he is an outlier who has found success, which makes it fun

07:15to at least hope for his success, that things do work out. I hope he does end up sticking,

07:20maybe as at least as a kick returner for a team. Another guy that was an outlier that found success

07:26that's going to get direct comparisons. And that is our pro comp is tank Dell with the Houston

07:30Texas. Now he has been inconsistently available, but he has had spurts of tremendous, just

07:36explosive highlight, real plays that make you excited for what he could be.

07:40I actually forgot this, that his 40 time actually wasn't super exciting for his weight. He's not

07:45that far off from Tez Johnson running a four, four nine during his combine and at a 10 foot,

07:52one inch broad. It's pretty easy to look at these two dudes as being quicker than fast and seeing

07:57how their deployment can be pretty similar in the NFL. And here's the thing at the end of the day

08:01is that tank Dell has been a good football player when healthy for the Houston Texans, but the

08:06physicality of the NFL level has been something that is going to be tough for a guy, his size

08:11continuously withstands. And that's the ultimate concern with Tez Johnson. Do I think that Tez

08:16Johnson can't be productive at all in the NFL? That no, I don't believe that. I think that he

08:20can be productive in a role in the NFL. The question is, can he withstand the physicality

08:25and will he maintain availability? Those are the biggest things at 154 pounds.

08:30Folks, let us know in the comments, what team do you want to see Tez Johnson play for

08:34hit that like button and subscribe. We'll talk to you later.

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