This Oregon Ducks star is being predicted to set a trend for the football program in next year's NFL Draft.
This year, two Oregon Ducks players were selected in the first round of the NFL Draft: tight end Kenyon Sadiq and safety Dillon Thieneman.
While the Oregon's 2026 class was actually rather thin, next year's draft will surely be loaded with Ducks players, with many of them seeming likely to fly off the board in the first round.
Cooper Petagna of CBS Sports recently released a very early 2027 mock draft, and for the second straight year, he has an Oregon tight end coming off the board. First, it was Sadiq. This time around, it's Jamari Johnson.
More specifically, Petagna has Johnson going 22nd overall to the Denver Broncos.
"Johnson would be the second straight Oregon tight end selected in the first round after former teammate Kenyon Sadiq," Petagna wrote. "A different profile than Sadiq, he brings a unique skill set at 6-foot-5 and nearly 260 pounds, showing the athleticism and fluidity to separate before and after the catch."
While Sadiq is slimmer and possesses wide receiver speed, Johnson is the bulkier, more powerful weapon, although he is very athletic in his own right.
Oregon Ducks tight end Jamari Johnson. Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images.The Inglewood, Ca. native began his collegiate career at Louisville in 2023 and barely saw any action for the Cardinals in his first two seasons, redshirting in Year 1 before logging 13 catches for 158 yards and a touchdown in 2024.
Johnson then transferred to Oregon, where he broke out alongside of Sadiq in 2025, hauling in 32 receptions for 510 yards and three scores. That was good for a robust average of 15.9 yards per grab.
The star playmaker will likely get more targets next season with Sadiq now in the NFL, so Johnson should post even bigger numbers in 2026.
Johnson was the second tight end off the board in Petagna's mock draft, as he had LSU's Trey'Dez Green going to the Carolina Panthers at No. 9.
Johnson actually probably could have been a Day 2 pick had he declared for the 2026 draft, but he — along with several other prominent Ducks players — decided to return to Eugene for another season.
We'll see if Johnson's decision to spend another year in school pays dividends for his NFL Draft stock.
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