Do you know who threw Johnson the first successful pass of his NFL career? That’s right, noted Jalen Coker fan Drew Brees, on Nov. 1, 2020, in an overtime win over the Bears, when the tight end logged fewer snaps than two other players with “Johnson” in their surname (Bears corner Jaylon Johnson and Saints DB Chauncey Gardner-Johnson). Since then, Johnson has been targeted by a dizzying array of QBs, including Trevor Siemian, Jameis Winston, Andy Dalton, Derek Carr, Spencer Rattler and, yes, even Taysom Hill (14 times, for 10 catches, 127 yards and a score). This offseason, New Orleans brought in multiple new targets for Tyler Shough, including first-rounder Jordyn Tyson at receiver and a pair of TEs (veteran Noah Fant and third-round pick Oscar Delp), and Chris Olave is still presumably the top dog in the passing game at this point. But let’s not overlook the connection between Shough and his former college roommate. In just 11 games together, Shough and Johnson hooked up on 44 catches for 556 yards — nearly as many as he recorded with Rattler (577) and Carr (587). Johnson’s nine drops, which tied for the league lead last season, per Next Gen Stats, stand out, but that number becomes much more reasonable (two) when we filter only for throws from Shough. And based on catch rate (78.6%), Shough-to-Johnson was practically automatic; it’s the most successful pairing between Johnson and any other QB and between Shough and any other Saints player (minimum of 20 targets).
