PP: After big junior season, could Gophers’ Tyler Johnson leave early for NFL?

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Is Tyler Johnson coming back???

Keeping my fingers crossed but wondering if you have any info.
 



last day to declare is 1/14. By all evidence from him (his statements, instagram, etc) he's coming back
 

My guess is yes. I always felt he would declare eligible early, or would be coming back. Time to declare is running short.

Hoping he wants to/feels the need to answer the drops issue. Without the drops next year, he can burst into the top 3 rounds.
 


Kind of like with the preseason polls, Johnson wasn't one of the "ranked" guys going into last year. He put up big numbers and will have the attention of a lot of NFL scouts this next season. And hopefully the Gophers will be an improved team and will get a lot more exposure.

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stocker08 said:
Kind of like with the preseason polls, Johnson wasn't one of the "ranked" guys going into last year. He put up big numbers and will have the attention of a lot of NFL scouts this next season. And hopefully the Gophers will be an improved team and will get a lot more exposure.

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He had big attention last season. The NFL is quite aware of him. He plays in the B1G.
 

I can see it now... Johnson catches passes for 1500 yards and 20 touchdowns in 2019 on his way to being a player of note in every college football circle. The Gophers finally have their breakthrough season in the process as they make it to the B1G title game. Although they lose to Ohio State, they are a legit 2nd place B1G team as they take the Buckeyes to OT and still stand at 11-2 after the loss so they are invited to a New Years Six bowl game (Rose Bowl?). Gopher fans are elated.

...And Johnson skips the bowl game to prep for his NFL career.

NOTE: this is no rip on Johnson. I might do the same thing. I just hate to see what has happened with so many players skipping their bowl games. This slow but sure development has really put a damper on a lot of bowl games, even big ones.
 

Has anyone seen a good scouting report on Tyler? I haven't seen him showing up on any publicly available top prospect lists (many don't cover juniors) or seen anyone covering him as a pro prospect.

I do expect him to be drafted and drafted well in the 2020 draft. I think he will have a huge year next season with a running game that may scare a few teams and more experience with his QB.
 



Schnauzer said:
I can see it now... Johnson catches passes for 1500 yards and 20 touchdowns in 2019 on his way to being a player of note in every college football circle. The Gophers finally have their breakthrough season in the process as they make it to the B1G title game. Although they lose to Ohio State, they are a legit 2nd place B1G team as they take the Buckeyes to OT and still stand at 11-2 after the loss so they are invited to a New Years Six bowl game (Rose Bowl?). Gopher fans are elated.

...And Johnson skips the bowl game to prep for his NFL career.

NOTE: this is no rip on Johnson. I might do the same thing. I just hate to see what has happened with so many players skipping their bowl games. This slow but sure development has really put a damper on a lot of bowl games, even big ones.
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Maybe I'm wrong and they were dragging around significant injury, but I think Cashman and Greene would have played if it were the Rose Bowl. The Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit the day after Christmas had at least something to do with it.
 

Justified or not, the poop on Johnson right now is that he's a one-trick pony (catch and YAC across the middle) with a habit of dropping potential gainers. A good senior season could be worth a lot of money to him.
 

Word has it he did the NFL evaluation thing, and of course he should.

But tweets and so forth all show him getting ready for next season.

I hope he stays but I get if he wants to go.
 

Love TJ, but he'd be about #3 or 4 option just between Bama and Clemson rosters.

I recommend he returns for senior year.;)
 
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everybody knows my name said:
Justified or not, the poop on Johnson right now is that he's a one-trick pony (catch and YAC across the middle) with a habit of dropping potential gainers. A good senior season could be worth a lot of money to him.
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I buy this! And I bet he does too.

If he was getting serious attention as a draft pick, I'm guessing he would've declared by now. And therefore, I'm guessing that they're telling him he might not get drafted this year. You always risk it one way or other other, ie he could get hurt playing his senior year (knock on wood it doesn't happen!) But I think he has more to gain by playing his senior year in CFB.
 

fmlizard said:
Maybe I'm wrong and they were dragging around significant injury, but I think Cashman and Greene would have played if it were the Rose Bowl. The Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit the day after Christmas had at least something to do with it.
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Greene yes. He was playing hurt and it made all the sense in the world for him to skip the bowl game and get healthy. People forget that Matt Spaeth skipped the bowl in 2006 after playing with a separated shoulder down the stretch and helping us go on that 3 game win streak/beat Iowa etc.

Regarding Cashman, there is plenty of scuttlebutt that he would've been involved in the suspension but PJ allowed him to bow out gracefully instead.
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
Greene yes. He was playing hurt and it made all the sense in the world for him to skip the bowl game and get healthy. People forget that Matt Spaeth skipped the bowl in 2006 after playing with a separated shoulder down the stretch and helping us go on that 3 game win streak/beat Iowa etc.

Regarding Cashman, there is plenty of scuttlebutt that he would've been involved in the suspension but PJ allowed him to bow out gracefully instead.
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Oh, I remember. Spaeth's replacement, Jack Simmons, had some nice catches in the first half of that fateful Tempe bowl game vs. Texas Tech. In the second half, however, when it was time to kill the clock on the ground, Spaeth's superior blocking skills were sorely missed.
 

With a much improved offensive line and experienced qbs, TJ will have a much better year next year.
 

Halsey Hall said:
With a much improved offensive line and experienced qbs, TJ will have a much better year next year.
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It will also be hard to decide who to cover with Bateman and Autman-Bell on the field. Plus our RB will be as deep and any team in the nation. Gonna be fun to watch this offense next year.
 

highwayman said:
It will also be hard to decide who to cover with Bateman and Autman-Bell on the field. Plus our RB will be as deep and any team in the nation. Gonna be fun to watch this offense next year.
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Add to that the possibility of Spann-Ford being a pass catching threat at tight end.
 

LesBolstad said:
Love TJ, but he'd be about #3 or 4 option just between Bama and Clemson rosters.

I recommend he returns for senior year.;)
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I think that's nonsense. Of course those teams have a ton of talent and Bama's Jeudy won the award for top WR. But Johnson is absolutely an NFL WR and would be doing the same thing he's doing now for them. He'd be no worse than the #3 WR for either of those teams and I'd bet he'd be a co #1 for Clemson and the #2 for Bama. He's consistently gotten open and made plays against high level competition for 2 years while seeing far fewer favorable coverages than those guys as teams aren't having to gear up to stop our running game like Bamas and Clemson's and we also don't have the same level of talent in our other WRs nor does he have an NFL QB throwing to him. Johnson is legit, not some guy putting up stats because someone has to catch the ball
 


oleboy41 said:
I think that's nonsense. Of course those teams have a ton of talent and Bama's Jeudy won the award for top WR. But Johnson is absolutely an NFL WR and would be doing the same thing he's doing now for them. He'd be no worse than the #3 WR for either of those teams and I'd bet he'd be a co #1 for Clemson and the #2 for Bama. He's consistently gotten open and made plays against high level competition for 2 years while seeing far fewer favorable coverages than those guys as teams aren't having to gear up to stop our running game like Bamas and Clemson's and we also don't have the same level of talent in our other WRs nor does he have an NFL QB throwing to him. Johnson is legit, not some guy putting up stats because someone has to catch the ball
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Totally agree, Oleboy. His footwork to get open has gotten a praise, he adjusts to the ball well in flight and he can go up and make really tough catches.
As a fan base are we always a little harder on our own players? Was it like this for Decker after his Junior year on Gopherhole?
 

Halsey Hall said:
With a much improved offensive line and experienced qbs, TJ will have a much better year next year.
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That will be pretty hard to do considering he broke the yardage and touchdown reception records this year and with Bateman and CAB being sophs....


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oleboy41 said:
I think that's nonsense. Of course those teams have a ton of talent and Bama's Jeudy won the award for top WR. But Johnson is absolutely an NFL WR and would be doing the same thing he's doing now for them. He'd be no worse than the #3 WR for either of those teams and I'd bet he'd be a co #1 for Clemson and the #2 for Bama. He's consistently gotten open and made plays against high level competition for 2 years while seeing far fewer favorable coverages than those guys as teams aren't having to gear up to stop our running game like Bamas and Clemson's and we also don't have the same level of talent in our other WRs nor does he have an NFL QB throwing to him. Johnson is legit, not some guy putting up stats because someone has to catch the ball
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Agreed. There is always this rush to assume that the National Championship contenders have the best players at every position. But I assure you that even Clemson and Alabama would like to pick and choose a few guys off our roster.
 






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