Practice for the Senior Bowl is underway, and athletes from across the country are showing their skills to potentially raise their NFL Draft stock. In a crop of stand-outs, several Oregon Ducks are creating some buzz with their athleticism.
One of those Ducks making waves at the Senior Bowl is wide receiver Tez Johnson, who beat out several secondary athletes from across the nation in 1v1 drills and 7v7 drills on Tuesday and is getting even more praise for his Wednesday practice performance.
Johnson excelled in footwork and speed, beating out almost every defender he lined up against. Houston Texans breakout wide receiver Tank Dell, who is similar to Johnson's smaller size at 5-foot-8 and 165 pounds, has been the NFL comparison to Johnson. Johnson also named Dell as a current NFL player he models his game after.
“A lot of guys are scared to get beat deep, you have to use that to your advantage," Johnson said to the media on Wednesday.
Prior to his workouts during the Senior Bowl, Johnson was going viral on social media for his clocked in measurements. Before hitting the turf in Mobile, Alabama for the showcase, Johnson was listed at 5-9 and 156 pounds. With those statistics, Johnson weighs less than almost every receiver currently in the NFL. Though his size came as a shock to some, so did his ability to evade defenders during practice.
"I take the weight room very seriously," said Johnson. "No matter what team I am on, I will be pound-for-pound, the strongest."
Johnson clocked in as the second fastest player on offense for the first day of Senior Bowl practice with 20.64mph.
Multiple NFL mock drafts project Johnson as a third round selection, but Johnson might be improving his draft stock in Mobile with all the buzz surrounding him.
In his two years with the Oregon Ducks, Johnson finished with in 2,080 receiving yards and 20 touchdowns with 169 catches. Johnson was a key cog in the Oregon offense, with his brief injury absence starting at the Michigan game in November and lasting till the beginning of December (when he returned to play against the Washington Huskies) proving to be a blow to Oregon's kick return strategy as well as taking away one of quarterback Dillon Gabriel's most reliable targets.
Johnson excels in yards after the catch (YAC) and 67.3 percent of Johnson's receiving yards came after catching his intended target, which is the eighth highest for said statistic in the NCAA.
Not only was Johnson a "go-to" receiver for Gabriel, he was also one of the top targets for former Oregon quarterback and Denver Bronco rookie Bo Nix. Many Duck fans already know that Johnson is the adopted brother of Nix, and Nix recommended Johnson for the Ducks when he transferred to Oregon from Auburn in 2021.
Given former Duck center Alex Forsyth had a hand in Nix being the 12th overall pick for the Broncos in the 2024 NFL Draft, and Nix needing more weapons to connect with in the Denver receiver corps, it makes sense that Duck fans are thinking Johnson may just be headed to join his brother.
"Playing alongside my brother again would be another dream come true - to play in the NFL with your brother? That's pretty amazing," Johnson said. "If any of these 32 team draft me, they will have one of the best receivers in the draft."
In an interview with Jason Allwine of PlayerProfiler, Johnson hit back at critics who critiqued his size before seeing his work on the field.
"Size doesn't mean anything. If you can go out there and play, you can play. So, I always took that from Davante Adams and Tank Dell, which I'm really close with so I most definitely want to go out here and show them why I'm one of the best in the country," Johnson said.
-1737941500-q80.webp "Ed Oliver takes fumble away from Patrick Mahomes, sets up early game-saving touchdown")
