There were multiple surprise moves made across the NFL ahead of Tuesday’s roster cut-down deadline. For one, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers decided to part ways with wide receiver Tyler Johnson, who ended up being claimed off waivers by the Houston Texans.
Johnson is coming off of a 2021 season where, although he did not haul in a single receiving touchdown, he did record 36 receptions for 360 receiving yards. He finished up the year featuring in 612 total snaps on offense, which ranked at third among wideouts on the team.
In the end, Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles elected to include seven receivers on the team’s initial 53-man roster, including Scotty Miller and Jaelon Darden. In Johnson’s case, Bowles views a wideout who is a “great pass receiver” but also one who has “no special teams value.”
“That was tough,” Bowles said during a press conference on Wednesday. “Again, we have a lot of receivers and when you get down to a fifth and sixth receiver – Jaelon [Darden] returns punts and kicks, [and] Tyler [Johnson] was the sixth receiver to dress on Sundays. You've got to be able to play special teams and contribute.
“[He is] a great pass receiver, very good catcher – he can catch the ball – [he's] a very good player, but no special teams value. Once you get down past the top four and five, you've got to have more value then just catching the football because you won't dress on Sundays. You know, that was a big reason behind it. We felt ‘BP' (Breshad Perriman) can do a lot of things on special teams, we feel Scotty [Miller] can do some things as well. So that's what it came down to.”
Johnson did log 89 total snaps played on special teams in the 2021 campaign, although he was called on to be a kickoff returner just once.
For now, Johnson is slated to feature under the Davis Mills-led offense in Houston for the upcoming 2022 season. He is set to take part in multiple key practices ahead of the Texans' regular season opener against their AFC South rival in the Indianapolis Colts later this month.
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