Johnson caught his lone target for 7 yards on 32 snaps. He ran a route on just 59% of dropbacks with a 4% target rate per route run and 0.29 yards per route run. He lined up in the slot on 67% of his snaps with a 6.0-yard aDOT. Noah Fant (26 snaps) and rookie Oscar Delp (16 snaps) continued to cut into his work, and neither did much with it either. The three TEs combined for 4 targets and 20 yards. Johnson finished as TE44 for the week.
2026 Fantasy Football Impact
Johnson played 70% of the Saints’ snaps over the first five weeks, including 62% of 11-personnel early downs, 91% of third downs and 60% in 12 personnel. That has eroded fast. Fant was near-even with him on third downs last week and again took over in obvious third-and-long situations. Delp is now handling most of the 12-personnel work. Johnson has 26 catches for 255 yards and 3 TDs on the season. But after posting 104 yards through the first two games, he’s managed just 151 yards over the last five as his route participation fell below 60% in back-to-back weeks.
New Orleans hosts San Francisco in Week 8, Cleveland in Week 9 and Carolina in Week 10. Heading into Week 7, the 49ers had allowed the fourth-fewest fantasy points per game to TEs (9.18). The Browns ranked 13th (14.78) and the Panthers ninth (15.96). Even the softer matchups won’t help much with Johnson’s shrinking role. Jordyn Tyson’s potential return would push the TEs even further down the pecking order. Johnson should sit on the bench until his snaps raise back up.
