The New Orleans Saints took somewhat of a big hit recently from the injury bug.
In practice, according to insider Nick Underhill, tight end Juwan Johnson suffered a lower leg injury and now could miss a good amount of time.
Other than veteran Foster Moreau, the team doesn’t have a ton of depth at that position, so this isn’t good news.
After going undrafted out of Oregon in 2020 and having a couple of quiet seasons as a young player, Johnson carved out a role for himself in the Bayou.
He only caught a combined 17 passes across 2020 and 2021.
But in 2022, he caught 42 passes for 508 yards and 7 touchdowns.
Last season, he reeled in 37 passes for 368 yards and 4 touchdowns.
By no means is he in the class of Travis Kelce and George Kittle.
But, he has been with the team for four years going on five, which means he is extremely familiar with how things work on offense.
Depending on how severe the injury is, it will be up to the likes of Foster Moreau and do-it-all player Taysom Hill to step up.
Moreau, like Johnson, has put up okay numbers as a role player in the league.
His best season came in 2022 with Las Vegas when he caught 33 passes for 420 yards and 2 touchdowns.
He signed a three-year deal with the Saints in 2023 to reunite with his former Raiders teammate in Derek Carr.
Hill isn’t strictly a tight end but can play like one.
He has 33 career receptions for 291 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The hope is that Johnson doesn’t miss any significant time later on in training camp with this injury.
