Has Juwan Johnson done enough in the 2020s to headline the tight ends on our All-NFC South Team? He's scored plenty of touchdowns for the New Orleans Saints
, but division rivals like Atlanta Falcons star Kyle Pitts Sr. and Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan-favorite Cade Otton are tough competition. It may be the Carolina Panthers getting shut out this time, but it's a good group of tight ends making the cut for our all-decade team. Lets' get to it.Methodology
One key stat we're relying on is Approximate Value from Pro Football Reference, which PFR defines as "an attempt to put a single number on the seasonal value of a player at any position from any year." In practice, that means giving higher numbers to player who start more games, play more snaps, and do more to help
their team win by racking up yards, scoring touchdowns, creating turnovers and sacking quarterbacks, and so on. We're also assigning point values to being named a first-team All-Pro (ten points), second-team All-Pro (five points), and Pro Bowler (three points). And then we're adding those numbers together. Remember, these are all-decade teams for the NFC South, which didn't exist until 2002, and only contributions on the four teams in the division factor into our formula. So Drew Brees earning a Pro Bowl nod with the San Diego Chargers in 2005 doesn't help him, for example.
First team: Kyle Pitts Sr.
- Team: Atlanta Falcons (2021 to present)
- AV: 30
- Awards: All-Pro second team (1), Pro Bowler (1)
- Score: 38
Pitts was a problem as a rookie, catching 68 passes for 1,026 yards and earning a Pro Bowl appearance, but he struggled to repeat that success in the years that followed. Like his teammate Drake London, he's another Falcon who was outscored by Taysom Hill each year, at least until 2025. Last season Pitts bounced back with a respectable 88 catches, 928 yards, and a career-high five touchdown receptions, making the All-Pro team. He flashes real potential but just hasn't strung it together consistently enough.
Second team: Juwan Johnson
- Team: New Orleans Saints (2020 to present)
- AV: 18
- Awards: N/A
- Score: 18
It's taken some time, but Johnson has pulled off the transition from wide receiver to tight end, and now he's coming off the biggest year of his career. Johnson reeled in 77 receptions for 889 yards last season and looked the part of a modern-day playmaker at tight end. He's still an incredibly frustrating player to watch with too many drops (6 of them last season), penalties (he's been fouled for a false start seven times in three years), missed blocking assignments, and other miscues. But if he can clean up those self-inflicted wounds, he could be a force.
Honorable mention: Cade Otton
- Team: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2022 to present)
- AV: 18
- Awards: N/A
- Score: 18
Even if you limit them to years since Otton was drafted in 2022, Johnson has an edge in yards (295 more) and touchdown catches (six more) despite catching one fewer pass than Otton in the same number of games. Where Otton does have an advantage is his skill as a blocker, having recorded almost 1,000 more snaps than Johnson across the same length of time (and blocking 586 more times). His three-down utility makes a difference, but it doesn't outweigh Johnson's greater production as a receiver.
More All-NFC South Team of the 2020s
- Quarterbacks
- Running backs
- Wide receivers
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: All-NFC South Team of the 2020s: Does Juwan Johnson lead tight ends?
