Juwan Johnson

Juwan Johnson enters the 2026 fantasy season as the Saints’ clear top tight end and a player who still has real TE1 upside if the passing game cooperates. He’s coming off a career-best 2025 campaign with 77 catches for 889 yards and three touchdowns, and he is listed as the starter on the Saints’ unofficial depth chart.

The biggest reason to like him is volume. Recent 2026 fantasy outlooks project him for roughly 65 catches and around 730 yards, with most rankings placing him in the TE14-TE20 range, which makes him a strong late-round target in redraft leagues. That kind of profile usually plays well at tight end because the position gets thin quickly, and Johnson has already shown he can handle a sizable target share.

There is some downside baked in, though. His touchdown total has lagged behind his catch volume, and evaluators still see him more as a TE2 with upside than a locked-in every-week starter. He also had an ankle issue late last season that briefly affected practice, so while there’s no major current injury concern, managers should still monitor his status during the final preseason stretch.

Overall, Johnson is a reliable upside pick rather than a flashy one. In 2026 fantasy drafts, he makes sense as a mid-to-late TE1 in builds that wait on tight end, or as a very solid TE2 if you want safety with a realistic path to outperform ADP. If the Saints’ offense is merely average, he can return value; if it takes a step forward, he has the skill set to finish as one of the better draft-day bargains at the position.