The seventh-round pick steals the show in the final preseason game, while Shilo Sanders is ejected for throwing a punch.
Bucs rookie wide receiver Tez Johnson celebrates with a flip after scoring on a 1-yard reception in the second quarter of Saturday's preseason game against the Bills at Raymond James Stadium.
TAMPA — Acrobatic receiver Tez Johnson may be small, but his game and his celebrations are anything but.
After hauling in a 1-yard touchdown pass late in the first half of Saturday’s 23-19 preseason loss to the Bills at Raymond James Stadium, Johnson turned the end zone into his own gymnastics mat, celebrating with a front handspring and back layout.
The Oregon rookie was eight targeted eight times and caught all of them for 58 yards and a touchdown. He was among the few rookies that really stood out — while one got thrown out — in the final preseason game.
Johnson, a seventh-round pick, may have cemented his spot on the roster, especially with Chris Godwin still recovering from a dislocated ankle and Jalen McMillan on injured reserve, expected to return sometime after the Week 9 bye.
As for the celebration? The Bucs measured Johnson to be 6 feet off the ground during his back layout.
“Ever since I got drafted, I said I was going to do a back flip or jump into the crowd,” Johnson said. “I was going to do one of those. So, the backflip came right to my head as soon as I scored. I didn’t think I was going to get that high, I just had a lot of adrenaline. But it felt really good.”
Bucs wide receiver Tez Johnson catches a 1-yard scoring pass from Kyle Trask late in the second quarter. He caught all eight of his targets for 58 yards and a touchdown.
Emotions, however, may have gotten the best of Shilo Sanders. The undrafted rookie safety committed a pass interference penalty and was ejected from the game after throwing a punch at Bills tight end Zach Davidson after a second-quarter play.
“You can’t throw punches in this league,” Bucs coach Todd Bowles said. “That’s inexcusable. They’re going to get you every time. You’ve got to grow from that.”
NFL teams have to be at the 53-man roster limit by 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Among the biggest decisions the Bucs must make is whether Kyle Trask or Teddy Bridgewater will serve as the No. 2 quarterback behind Baker Mayfield.
Given the fact that both Godwin and tackle Tristan Wirfs will begin the season on the active roster despite not being ready to play until October, it may be hard for the Bucs to carry three quarterbacks.
Trask played the first half Saturday and went 13-for-17 passing for 93 yards and a touchdown.
The Bucs announced before the game that Bridgewater was ill and would not play.
Bucs safety Shilo Sanders reacts after being ejected for throwing a punch at Bills tight end Zach Davidson after a second-quarter play. “You can’t throw punches in this league,” Bucs coach Todd Bowles said. “That’s inexcusable." [ JEFFEREE WOO | Times ]
Trask said he wasn’t worried about his future with the Bucs or his battle with Bridgewater.
“I just control what I can control,” he said. “If I start worrying about a lot of other things outside of things while you’re playing, you’re going to play a lot slower. There’s no time to think about outside information when you’re on the field. You’ve got to focus on the task at hand, and that’s all I can do.”
Trask said he felt he had a good start to the preseason against Tennessee, took a step back at Pittsburgh and finished strong against Buffalo.
“I thought I just cleaned things up,” he said. “I think the first (game) was pretty solid. I thought the second one, it kind of slowed down, but I learned a lot of lessons from it. Different things to do preparing going into it and just a lot of operational things. I learned a lot from that game, and I felt this third game was solid to take what I learned from the previous game and put it into action, and it was great.”
Undrafted linebackers Nick Jackson and John Bullock made good cases to remain with the Bucs. Jackson had six tackles, one shy of the team high, and Bullock had a team-best three tackles on special teams, and three more on defense.
Undrafted Josh Williams from LSU staked his claim to becoming the fourth running back because of his contributions on special teams. He rushed for 28 yards on eight carries but excelled in the kick return game, including a 42-yard return.
Kyle Trask, battling Teddy Bridgewater for the No. 2 quarterback spot, played the first half Saturday and went 13-for-17 passing for 93 yards and a touchdown.
But by far, the best young player for the Bucs was Johnson. He gives the team another receiver who can make plays on the outside while Godwin and McMillan recover.
“He really grew from last week to this week, understanding the look of things,” Bowles said. “When they called plays, he played fast. He looked like he knew what he was doing.”
Not to be outdone, receiver Kameron Johnson had a 57-yard kickoff return early in the second half that led to a 50-yard field goal by Chase McLaughlin. But he also had two pass drops.
As for Tez Johnson’s TD celebration, he said he learned to tumble when he was only 5 years old.
“No classes. I give credit to my stepdad,” he said. “He started me off when I was, like, 5 years old, from the bed. I think I spent, like, two days on the bed, and he took me right outside. We started in the grass and I was like, ‘OK, I’m confident.’
“Pulling up to my grandma’s house, I hit one on the concrete and he turned around and said, ‘Be careful.’ I said, ‘I’m good. I know how to do it now.’ Then over the years, I just got comfortable with twisting and full back handsprings and stuff like that.”
The Bucs are at least doing dignified somersaults thinking about how Tez Johnson can help their offense, but the former Duck says he’s not satisfied.
“In spite of all the catches and the touchdown, I want one or two plays back that I feel like I really should’ve capitalized on, and that’s up to me to get better on it,” he said. ”It’s part of the game."
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