Teams generally don’t find impact players in the seventh round of the NFL Draft, so one wouldn’t blame the Tampa Bay Buccaneers if they didn’t think that about Tez Johnson.

But Johnson wasn’t like most late-round picks.

Anybody who watched the 2024 Big Ten Championship Game between Oregon and Penn State knew that Johnson was a college star.

In a game that featured (at least) four future first-round picks, Johnson was the best player on the field, torching Penn State for 181 yards and a touchdown on 11 catches to win the game’s MVP.

Johnson was hardly a one-game wonder.

He caught 10 touchdowns each in the 2023 and ‘24 seasons, going for nearly 1,200 yards in 2023.

Johnson did better than most rookie receivers in 2025, and his season was even more impressive considering he was one of the last players selected in the draft. 

Bucs Roundtable will take a look at where each 2025 Bucs draft pick stands after their rookie season, starting with their seventh round pick. 

Johnson wasn’t supposed to fall to the seventh round. Coming into the draft, most projections had him going on the second day, with the possibility of slipping to early in the third day. But Johnson’s frame (5-foot-9, 154 pounds) and underwhelming combine performance (40-yard dash above 4.5) led to him being available for the Bucs at pick No. 235.

Based solely on 2025, Johnson was Tampa Bay’s best value pick. He ended his rookie season with 322 yards and five touchdowns on 44 catches. Compared to Tampa’s past seventh round picks, such as 2024 pick Devin Culp, who had one reception in 13 games this season, and 2022 pick Andre Anthony, who the team waived before the start of the regular season, Johnson did quite well.

In fact, Johnson’s five touchdown receptions were tied for the third most of any seventh rounder ever, behind only Marcus Colston (2006) and Randy Vataha (1971).

Through Week 12, the only rookie who had more receiving touchdowns than Johnson was his teammate Emeka Egbuka, who was Tampa's first-round pick. Although Johnson tailed off in the last six weeks of the season, not catching a touchdown pass in that span, him being among the rookie TD leaders that late into the season is pretty good for the 27th receiver taken in his class. 

With Mike Evans and Chris Godwin both in their 30s, the Bucs are going to have to look to the future of their receivers room eventually. Johnson might not have the upside of Egbuka or Jalen McMillan (third-round pick, 2024), but unlike a lot of seventh-rounders, he could well be a part of Tampa's future plans. 

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