If you played Saints TE Juwan Johnson and just looked at the box score after Sunday's OT loss at Detroit, you might be worried that Johnson has a Noah Fant problem. Fant edged Johnson 8-7 in targets and 4-3 in catches and matched his 1 TD. But their playing time presented a much wider gap.
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Johnson played 76 of New Orleans' 90 total offensive snaps, trailing only QB Tyler Shough (90), WR Devaughn Vele (82), and WR Chris Olave (77) among Saints skill-position players.
His 53 routes marked an 84.1% share and landed similarly closely to leaders Vele (58 routes, 92.1%) and Olave (55, 87.3%).
Fant, meanwhile, played 37 total snaps and ran just 19 routes (30.2%). He's not likely to stay even with Johnson in receiving opportunities at that participation level.
We'll also see whether multiple-TE usage shifts once rookie WR Jordyn Tyson returns from his hamstring injury.
Johnson should remain a weekly starting candidate at least until Tyson returns as well. We'll keep watching how the Saints distribute playing time and targets among TEs.
Week 2 holds a challenging matchup with Baltimore, which limited Colts TE Tyler Warren to a 3-13-1 receiving line in Week 1.
