Theo Johnson scored seven times during his final season at Penn State, and his athletic profile resulted in fantasy football interest. The size/speed combination is that of TE sleepers in the past, and 11.6 yards per catch through two professional seasons (74 receptions) is certainly encouraging. That said, John Harbaugh brought Isaiah Likely over from Baltimore, and he now sits atop the tight end depth chart in New York.
Should I Draft Theo Johnson in Fantasy Football?
Four times last season, Johnson caught 3+ passes, with a 25+ yarder being a part of the highlight reel. It’s very possible that this is one of the 10 most athletic options at the position in the league, and that’s generally a profile I buy into early and ask questions later.
The Likely addition ruined all of my excitement for Johnson, and now he’s my most rostered player at the position.
We don’t know that Likely can play/survive a full-time role, so I’m not fully hoping off of the Johnson bandwagon yet; you just don’t need to draft him. Baltimore refused to give Likely routes in bulk, favoring an aging Mark Andrews over him.
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That’s generally not great, but his coach targeting him in a new location is more positive than the past was negative in my eyes. With Malik Nabers’ health in a far better spot than we would have guessed at the beginning of the summer and Najee Harris added to a deep backfield in mid August, there are a lot of places for touches in this offense to go outside of their backup TE.
Should Likely go down; consider me the leader of the Johnson train. I do think there’s pro-level potential here, especially alongside a developing QB in Jaxson Dart, but there’s no reason to look this direction in any format this summer.
Soppe’s TE Fantasy Rankings 2026
- Trey McBride | ARI
- Brock Bowers | LV
- Colston Loveland | CHI
- Tucker Kraft | GB
- Tyler Warren | IND
- George Kittle | SF
- Sam LaPorta | DET
- Harold Fannin Jr. | CLE
- Isaiah Likely | NYG
- Kyle Pitts Sr. | ATL
- Juwan Johnson | NO
- Jake Ferguson | DAL
- Mark Andrews | BAL
- Dallas Goedert | PHI
- Travis Kelce | KC
- Hunter Henry | NE
- Chig Okonkwo | WAS
- Dalton Kincaid | BUF
- Dalton Schultz | HOU
- Brenton Strange | JAX
- Kenyon Sadiq | NYJ
- Terrance Ferguson | LAR
- Greg Dulcich | MIA
- Evan Engram | DEN
- Oronde Gadsden II | LAC
- AJ Barner | SEA
- Cade Otton | TB
- Gunnar Helm | TEN
- T.J. Hockenson | MIN
- Theo Johnson | NYG
- Mason Taylor | NYJ
- Jake Tonges | SF
