Oregon WR Tez Johnson Answered Big Broncos Questions at Senior Bowl

MOBILE, AL — When the Denver Broncos drafted quarterback Bo Nix, they doubled down by also selecting one of his security blankets at Oregon, and his No. 1 college target, Troy Franklin. Nix had a tremendous rookie season, winning 10 games and leading the Broncos to the playoffs, while Franklin had very little impact until the final quarter of the season.
When I made the trip to Mobile to cover the Reese's Senior Bowl, one of the prospects I wanted to spend some time watching and observing was Oregon wideout Tez Johnson, Nix's adopted brother. Nix played with Johnson in his final year at Oregon in 2023, with the brother duo connecting on 86 completions for 1,182 yards and 10 touchdowns.
That familial level of intensity, and the brothers' history dating back to high school, made for a very productive pairing in the one year they had together at Oregon. Could the Broncos look to reunite Nix and Johnson at the next level?
Johnson would love it.
"Playing alongside my brother again would be another dream come true - to play in the NFL with your brother? That's pretty amazing," Johnson said via Oregon Ducks On SI. "If any of these 32 teams draft me, they will have one of the best receivers in the draft."
Johnson's potential fit in Denver comes down to the answers to three questions. Let's examine.
Can he Hang in the NFL?
The first question is whether Johnson is of an NFL-caliber, and I can tell you that after watching him burn one cornerback after another in one-on-one and team drills, he's got the tools to hang. The kid has excellent, shifty feet and he gets open almost always.
Is he Too Small?
The second question is Johnson's frame. Officially measuring at 5-foot-9 (and 1/4) and 156 pounds at the Senior Bowl, he's a little guy relative to the NFL. But he's also smart and shifty enough to evade the worst of the wear and tear.
With the right team vision and quarterback, Johnson is savvy enough to evade the big hits in the NFL, but his size is a concern. With a well-defined role, I could see his size becoming a non-issue at the next level, but it's one of the reasons he's projected to be a Day 3 pick in the draft.
What if Things Didn't Work Out?
The third question is whether the Broncos would want to risk muddying the water with Nix by drafting a family member. What if something went wrong and/or Johnson failed to launch, and the team had to move on? You'd like to think Nix understands the business side of the NFL, but would it create a rift with the coaching staff?
That might not be something the Broncos would want to worry about, although I doubt Nix would be a problem if Johnson didn't work out. I listed it as the third question here because it's the least of my concerns relative to Johnson's fit in Denver.
After watching him compete in practice all three days at the Senior Bowl, if Johnson's viability with the Broncos is dependent on how he's done this week, he more than passed the test. He purportedly brings 4.3 to 4.5-second speed to the table, which is why it'll be key to get him to the NFL Combine and officially clocked.
John Elway talked about it last week; the Broncos offense needs speed, and Johnson could absolutely oblige. Whether he gets reunited with his brother in Denver will come down to how GM George Paton and head coach Sean Payton answer the questions posed above.
One caveat is Payton's long-held love for big-bodied receivers like Marques Colston and Courtland Sutton — those 6-foot-4 type of guys. The Broncos already have multiple options of that prototype on the roster, including Devaughn Vele, and even Franklin is 6-foot-1.
Johnson is a playmaker with short-area burst and speed. He gets open and what I saw in Mobile, he doesn't drop passes. I would think that an offensive savant like Payton could find a million ways to make use of a skill set like that.
I would be completely unsurprised of the Broncos hosted a Nix family reunion come April's draft.
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