A former Penn State tight end is likely done for the season, per his head coach.
Friday, Giants HC Brian Daboll announced that rookie TE Theo Johnson is probably out for the year after suffering a foot injury during New Yorkโs Thanksgiving Day game against the Cowboys in Dallas.
Coach Brian Daboll added the promising rookie TE Theo Johnson is also likely done for the season with a foot injury. https://t.co/GHgnNxnL8S
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 29, 2024
Johnson had perhaps the best game of his young career against the Cowboys.
He ended the day catching all five of his targets for a career-best 54 yards. On the season, Johnson has 29 catches for 331 yards and a score, which he picked up Nov. 3 against Washington for his first NFL TD.
WHAT JOHNSON ACCOMPLISHED AT PENN STATE
Penn State alum Theo Johnson attend the blue white game ahead of the NFL draft.
Tyler Warren is currently having maybe the best season a Penn State tight end has ever had but last season, Johnson was Penn Stateโs No. 1 TE.
Johnson didnโt put up monster numbers at Penn State.
He never had more than 341 yards and a season and never scored more than seven touchdowns.
Perhaps Johnson would have put up better numbers at a school that didnโt have as strong of a reputation for churning out NFL-caliber tight ends.
One of those tight ends, Pat Freiermuth, was at Penn State when Johnson started his college football career in 2020.
Penn State also had Brenton Strange, a man whoโs a year older than Johnson and wound up being a second-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2022. Zach Kuntz was a top-five prep TE in the country when Penn State signed him. He ended up transferring to Old Dominion. Kuntz, too, is now in the NFL with the Jets.
But that crowded room didnโt deter Johnson from picking PSU over schools such as Georgia, Iowa and Michigan.
It drove him to do it.
โThat was a huge reason why I chose Penn State as a young high school kid,โ Johnson told reporters at his NFL Combine presser in February. โJust looking at the lineage of tight ends that have come out of Penn State. It excited me to continue that tradition. But also to leave my own mark. Moving forward in the future. I think Iโve done that, and Iโm looking forward to the kids that are coming after me. We have a lot of really young, good talent. So I think that traditionโs going to continue on for a long time.โ
ANOTHER GRONK?
One of the ultimate honors for any tight end is to be mentioned in the same breath as Rob Gronkowski.
Daboll, who was Gronkโs tight end coach in New England from 2013-16, sees some โGronkโ in the rookie (weโre talking strictly on the field, to be clear).
โThereโs countless times where weโll be in the middle of a meeting and heโll be like, โTheo, Dabs wants to see you,’โ Johnson told Art Stapleton of NorthJersey.com during training camp. โPulls me out of the meeting and Iโm like, โWhat could this possibly be about?โ
โAnd then heโs got up a clip of Gronk just running somebody over, catching a back shoulder, and heโs like, โThis is what we expect from you.โ I can tell he puts a lot of intentional eye into the tight end position โฆ I think it goes to show how he feels about me and what he thinks Iโm capable of.โ
Penn State takes on Maryland Saturday for its regular-season finale at Beaver Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 on the Big Ten Network.
