Buccaneers get 2020 NFL Draft steal in WR Tyler Johnson

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers added to their tremendous offseason on day three of the 2020 NFL Draft with Minnesota WR Tyler Johnson.

There is perhaps no team in the NFL that has done a better job of upgrading and reshaping their roster in the 2020 offseason than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Bucs signed the legendary Tom Brady to be their quarterback and Brady brought along his pal Rob Gronkowski to play tight end. They re-signed some key players defensively in Jason Pierre-Paul, Ndamukong Suh, and Shaquil Barrett.

In the 2020 NFL Draft, the Buccaneers upgraded their offensive line by drafting Iowa’s Tristan Wirfs and followed that selection up in round two by taking Minnesota safety Antoine Winfield Jr., who should be a key piece of their secondary in 2020.

After all of that, the Buccaneers made one of the shrewdest moves on day three of the 2020 NFL Draft when they selected Minnesota wide receiver Tyler Johnson in the fifth round.

Johnson has been dominant in the Big Ten over the last two seasons, catching 164 passes for 2,487 yards and 25 touchdowns.

He also had seven touchdowns as a sophomore for the Gophers.

He made some insanely tough catches in his time at Minnesota but mostly proved his worth as a contested-catch receiver, possession receiver, and bully after the catch.

For all of Johnson’s production at Minnesota, he wasn’t met with much fanfare for the 2020 NFL Draft.

Even in a deep wide receiver class, one of the deepest in recent memory, Johnson’s production stands out among the best of the best. Based on his production alone, he should have been selected much higher than he ultimately was.

With no pre-draft workout at the 2020 Scouting Combine, Johnson wasn’t able to put numbers to his on-field athletic ability, which appears to be at least above average.

As is often the case, however, it’s not about when you’re drafted in the NFL but where. No one knows that better than Bucs quarterback Tom Brady, who is famously the 199th overall pick in his draft class.

Johnson was picked 161st overall by the Bucs but he has a chance to have a tremendous year one impact for Tampa Bay, even though their roster is already loaded with pass catchers.

Bruce Arians’ offense will utilize a ton of ’11’ personnel with one tight end and three wide receivers. As of right now, it’s hard to identify which of the Bucs’ receivers behind Chris Godwin and Mike Evans are truly that much better than Johnson skill-wise.

The Bucs could certainly use OJ Howard or Cameron Brate as big slot receivers in their offense, and they likely will, but Johnson has a chance to be a tremendous third threat at wide receiver for Brady, specifically in the short-intermediate passing game which we know Brady loves.

Teams are going to force Brady to go to his second or third option often, and Johnson has the type of skill set to excel in that role. He can break tackles in the open field, he wins contested catch situations, he can play inside as a slot, he can play outside, and he has some of the best hands in this deep receiver class.

Although pretty much every team in this year’s draft came away with a receiver (or two or three), the Bucs’ use of just a fifth-round pick on a player like Tyler Johnson is one of the best bargains in the league.