The Bucs and Panthers have a big game to decide the NFC South tomorrow. Or is it actually big? It's looking more and more like Carolina, win or lose, is going to be representing the division in the postseason.
A refresher: if the 8-8 Panthers win at 7-9 Tampa Bay, Carolina is the NFC South champ. If the Bucs win that game, 8-9 Carolina will still be the South champ if the 7-9 Falcons beat the 6-10 Saints. (Tampa Bay would win a two-way tiebreaker at 8-9, but Carolina would win a three-way tiebreaker if the Falcons are part of it.)
The Saints have been playing well lately, enough to think they could win in Atlanta, but they're going to be fielding a skeleton crew for that game. Yesterday's injury report for New Orleans listed 14 players, 10 of whom didn't practice at all.
Chris Olave is the most notable one, ruled out after a blood clot was discovered in his lung. Their preferred No. 2, Mason Tipton, has a groin injury and hasn't practiced either day; safe to assume he's not playing, either. They've got two other wide receivers on their 53-man roster: Kevin Austin and Dante Pettis. Those are probably their starting wideouts this week. Each caught 3-4 passes for 52-53 yards at Tennessee last week, so they're functional players. But no Olave around to threaten defenses, making them likely to see more targets, but also attract more coverage.
The most appealing receiver on the Saints, I think, is tight end Juwan Johnson. He's had a better year than I was aware of, showing up with 4-5 catches week after week -- one of the best at the position in a crowd after Trey McBride.
With Brock Bowers hurt much of the year, McBride has been head and shoulders above the field, with over 50 more targets, 37 more receptions and 300 more yards than anyone else at the position. But there's Juwan Johnson, within 8 catches and 42 yards of being the No. 2. Table sorted by receptions.
| TIGHT END RECEIVING, 2025 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Tgt | No | Rec | Avg | TD |
| Trey McBride | 161 | 119 | 1174 | 9.9 | 11 |
| Kyle Pitts | 109 | 82 | 870 | 10.6 | 5 |
| Jake Ferguson | 100 | 81 | 595 | 7.3 | 8 |
| Dalton Schultz | 102 | 78 | 704 | 9.0 | 3 |
| Juwan Johnson | 97 | 74 | 828 | 11.2 | 3 |
| Travis Kelce | 102 | 73 | 839 | 11.5 | 5 |
| Harold Fannin | 107 | 72 | 731 | 10.2 | 6 |
| Tyler Warren | 104 | 71 | 791 | 11.1 | 4 |
| Brock Bowers | 86 | 64 | 680 | 10.6 | 7 |
| Dallas Goedert | 82 | 60 | 591 | 9.9 | 11 |
| Hunter Henry | 82 | 55 | 712 | 12.9 | 7 |
| Chigoziem Okonkwo | 74 | 54 | 558 | 10.3 | 2 |
| George Kittle | 62 | 52 | 599 | 11.5 | 7 |
| Cade Otton | 72 | 52 | 478 | 9.2 | 0 |
| T.J. Hockenson | 66 | 51 | 438 | 8.6 | 3 |
| AJ Barner | 65 | 50 | 505 | 10.1 | 6 |
| Zach Ertz | 72 | 50 | 504 | 10.1 | 4 |
| Colston Loveland | 69 | 48 | 622 | 13.0 | 5 |
| Evan Engram | 72 | 47 | 416 | 8.9 | 1 |
| Oronde Gadsden II | 67 | 47 | 641 | 13.6 | 3 |
| Mark Andrews | 67 | 46 | 408 | 8.9 | 5 |
| Theo Johnson | 74 | 45 | 528 | 11.7 | 5 |
| Gunnar Helm | 55 | 44 | 357 | 8.1 | 2 |
| Mason Taylor | 65 | 44 | 369 | 8.4 | 1 |
| Sam LaPorta | 49 | 40 | 489 | 12.2 | 3 |
| Brenton Strange | 54 | 40 | 488 | 12.2 | 2 |
| Colby Parkinson | 49 | 39 | 372 | 9.5 | 6 |
| Pat Freiermuth | 49 | 38 | 435 | 11.4 | 4 |
Those in Week 18 leagues should be looking very close at Johnson, not just as a TE but possibly a flex spot; should outperform plenty of starting wide receivers. And he's also got some huge fans in Tampa Bay (if they win; otherwise they won't care), with a big game maybe helping the Bucs to win the division that no one seems to want too badly.
--Andy Richardson