Marcus

Johnson

The ex-Colt caught nine balls in seven games for the Titans last season. Now 28 years old, Johnson won’t be an overly appealing open-market flier after getting cut by someone like Kyle Shanahan.

The ex-Colt caught 19 balls in seven games for the Titans last season. Four months shy of his 28th birthday, Johnson’s best-case scenario in San Francisco will be making the roster as a grinder-type who features on special teams and contributes on offense in a pinch.

Johnson has special teams value and likely would’ve played a big role for the Titans last year had his hamstring held up. 100 of his 160 receiving yards last year came in one game. Turner managed three touchdowns with the Cowboys last season and has youth on his side at 26. Neither of these players will be threats to the established 49ers pecking order, but both could be good depth pieces.

It’s Johnson’s second stint on injured reserve thus forcing him to miss the rest of the 2021 season. He recently emerged in place of Julio Jones (hamstring, IR), hauling in 5/100 in Week 10 against New Orleans, but will ultimately close the year with 9/160 receiving on 19 targets across seven games. Dez Fitzpatrick will take his place until Jones is activated following Tennessee’s bye.

Johnson was the target on an end zone toss by Ryan Tannehill, but immediately grabbed his hamstring on what wound up being an uncatchable ball. An earlier hamstring injury kept Johnson out four games, and this was a quick rule out. This has the look of a multi-week injury. Johnson did not record any other targets in his one quarter of action.

His team-high 100 receiving yards included a 50-yard catch and run that helped put the Titans on the board first following Randy Bullock’s 28-yard field goal. With A.J. Brown double-teamed throughout the game, Johnson also accrued team-highs in targets (6), target share (22.2%), and receptions. He will undoubtedly be a hot commodity off waiver wires as Julio Jones’ replacement moving forward and, more importantly, in Week 11 against the Texans.

They will be eligible to return in three weeks. Evans appeared to be in line for a bigger workload this year before suffering a knee injury in the Titans’ first preseason game. The Titans will head into the regular season with Jeremy McNichols and Mekhi Sargent backing up Derrick Henry. Neither Sargent nor McNichols should be rostered outside of deep fantasy formats. Evans is a reasonable stash for fantasy managers who can put him in an IR spot.

Johnson caught 14 balls in 11 games for the Colts last season before finishing the year on the Titans’ practice squad. Going on 27, Johnson has 34 games of experience, and will compete to round out the Titans’ receiver corps as a core special teamer.

That Johnson led the team in targets didn’t amount to a whole lot. Then entire Colts offense has miserable against Baltimore, and it was Michael Pittman who got the downfield looks in Week 9. Three weeks removed from his 108-yard outburst against the Bengals, Johnson should only be rostered in leagues with multiple flex spots.

Hilton drafters won’t be put in the awful position of having to start their gimpy mid-round wideout in a tough matchup against Baltimore. WR Marcus Johnson (knee) will play. He’s a WR4 against the Ravens. Michael Pittman likely has the safest fantasy floor among Colts wide receivers today.