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Theo Johnson enters this season as the second tight end on the New York Giants depth chart, behind Isaiah Likely. Through five games in 2026, Johnson has played 35.7% of the offensive snaps, a figure that tells the whole story of where he sits in this passing game. He has started one of five games. The target volume reflects the reduced role: nine targets, four receptions, and 55 receiving yards on the season, a sharp step back from a year ago when he was the clear starting tight end in New York and played 86.5% of the snaps across 15 starts. In 2025 he drew 74 targets and caught 45 of them for 528 yards and five touchdowns, numbers that placed him eighteenth among all tight ends in PPR scoring. That version of Johnson does not exist on the field right now. With Likely occupying the primary tight end role and quarterback J.J. McCarthy distributing targets as the first-year starter, Johnson is working from a part-time snap count rather than the every-down role he had last season. His one red zone target this season, against thirteen a year ago, underscores how far his opportunity has fallen. The receiving yards per catch, 13.8, suggests he is still capable of making plays when targeted, but the frequency simply is not there. Johnson's role now looks like a complementary one: a secondary option whose fantasy value depends entirely on game script, injuries ahead of him on the depth chart, or a change in how the Giants deploy two tight ends.
The bullish case for Theo Johnson starts with recent history. A year ago he was a full-time player who produced 127.8 PPR points over a 15-game season, averaging 8.5 points per game, numbers that made him a usable streaming option at tight end. His catch rate then was 60.8%, and his touchdown rate, five scores on 74 targets, showed he found the end zone with some consistency. If Isaiah Likely's workload were to shift, or if the Giants wanted a bigger two-tight-end look, Johnson has already proven he can handle significant snaps and produce when given volume. The 13.8 yards per reception this season, even on a small sample, hints he still wins down the field when the ball comes his way. The case against him is simply the numbers in front of us right now. Johnson's snap share of 35.7% is less than half of what it was in 2025. His per-game output has fallen from 8.5 PPR points to 3.1. His finish among tight ends has dropped from eighteenth to fifty-third through five games. Nine targets over five games is not a role that can be rostered for touchdown equity alone, and his lone red zone target this season compared to thirteen a year ago shows the Giants are not looking his way in scoring situations. Isaiah Likely holds the primary job at the position in this offense, and quarterback J.J. McCarthy, working through his first extended stretch as a starter, has not been targeting Johnson with any regularity. A quarterback still building rapport with his pass catchers tends to lean on an established option, and right now that option is Likely, not Johnson. The honest read is that Johnson's current profile is a backup tight end who occasionally flashes with an efficient catch, not a weekly fantasy contributor. The gap between his 2025 role and his 2026 usage is too wide to paper over with hope that last year's version returns on volume alone. Unless something changes structurally in how the Giants use their tight ends, or Likely's role in the passing game diminishes, Johnson's numbers suggest a committee or backup role rather than one trending toward being the focal point again. Fantasy managers weighing him need to separate the player he was for one full season from the role he is actually playing now, because the gap between those two realities is the entire story here.
Leave Theo Johnson on the wire in most league formats right now. His current workload, 35.7% of the snaps and nine targets across five games, does not support a bench stash in anything but the deepest leagues with large rosters. His 3.1 points per game this season is a backup-level number, and there is no indication from the target share that a larger role is imminent while Isaiah Likely remains the preferred option at tight end for J.J. McCarthy's offense. The one red zone target this season, down from thirteen a year ago, is the clearest signal that touchdown equity has shifted away from him for now. If you are in a very deep league or one that starts two tight ends, Johnson can sit on a bench as a depth piece given his track record of 127.8 PPR points across a full season in 2025, when he operated as the regular starter. That history means he is not without talent or prior proof of concept. But in standard-sized leagues, he should not occupy a roster spot over more productive waiver options at the position. What would change this evaluation is a jump in his snap share back toward last year's 86.5% level, or a stretch of targets that approaches his 2025 pace of 74 across a season. Until the usage actually shifts, treat him as a wire candidate, not a stash.”} <- oops stray character, fix below.}
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