Tight end has been a volatile position this season with injuries and inconsistency causing plenty of turnover near the top of the position from week to week. If you’re looking to get a potential pickup off the waiver wire who can be a potential TE1 down the road for you, check out Theo Johnson of the Giants, who has stepped up over the last few weeks.
What has led to Johnson’s emergence as a starting option and why can he keep it rolling? Let’s take a look at the latest on the Giants offense and Johnson’s role in it moving forward.
The Prelude: Johnson’s slow start
After flashing some upside in his rookie year out of Penn State, Johnson entered this season as the favorite to be the Giants’ starting tight end. He finished last year with 29 catches for 331 yards and a touchdown, but his season was cut short by a foot injury.
He was healthy to start the year, but only had six catches for 49 yards in his first three games. In two of those games, he had just a single catch while not getting many targets at all.
Week 4: The turning point
Two key things changed in Week 4. First, the Giants made a quarterback change, replacing veteran Russell Wilson with dynamic, dual-threat rookie Jaxson Dart. Dart took over the offense and instantly seemed to have a strong connection with Johnson.
The two connected on on the first passing touchdown of Dart’s career on this shovel pass against the Chargers.
The other major factor that changed in Week 4 was that Malik Nabers was lost for the season to a knee injury. With Nabers out, there are more targets available for Johnson from Dart moving forward.
Week 5: The Upside
Johnson showed how high his ceiling can be in Week 5, catching six of his seven targets for 33 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
He did most of that damage in the first half, but the offense struggled and Dart had costly turnovers late as the Giants lost to the Saints on the road.
Despite that loss, though, the fact that Johnson was so heavily targeted and especially involved in the red zone shows how high his ceiling can be if he remains one of Dart’s top targets.
Week 6: The Upset
The Giants got another big upset win in Week 6, knocking off the Eagles on Thursday Night Football. Even though he only had two catches for 27 yards, Johnson still had four targets and played a season-high 94% of snaps. He did have a rough drop on one of those missed connections, but since the Giants played from ahead, they didn’t throw the ball as much as in other game scripts.
The Bottom Line
The Giants have a couple of tough road games in Denver and Philadelphia during the next two weeks. They’ll probably have to throw the ball more, and since Dart has shown such a good connection with Johnson, he could establish himself as a TE1 in the coming weeks. He doesn’t typically pick up a ton of yards, but his volume and red zone work make him a great fill-in for a bye week or a alternative to a struggling option who is not consistently involved.
This week, in DFS contests, Johnson is only $3,700 on the DraftKings main slate, highlighted by the NFL $2.75M Fantasy Football Millionaire [$1M to 1st]. He’s a solid value play if you are saving salary at tight end, and a great stash in season-long leagues.
