Juwan Johnson and Derek Carr have a plan that could lead to more wins for the Saints

When tight end Juwan Johnson joined the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2020, he entered a situation that every pass catcher would want to be in: catching passes from Drew Brees on a Sean Payton-coached team. Now, four seasons and seven quarterbacks later, Dennis Allen is the head coach of the Saints and Derek Carr is the starting quarterback.

Johnson recently spoke with Fox News about playing with so many quarterbacks in such a short time, and his current plan to make things work with Carr. Johnson told Ryan Gaydos of Fox News that his relationship with Derek Carr is already pretty good, citing their faith as something that brings them together. However, Johnson wants to get even closer with his quarterback, arguing that a stronger off-field connection will make them better on the field:

"I’m about to go see him in a couple of weeks just building chemistry. I just think the friendship part is what continues off the field, on the field. We’re just having fun. Just building a friendship and seeing how that permeates on the field."

- Juwan Johnson (via Fox News)

Juwan Johnson plans to spend time with Derek Carr throughout the offseason

Johnson, in his first season with Derek Carr, played in 13 games, catching 37 passes for 368 yards and four touchdowns. Production wise, it was the second-best season of his four-year career, only having better numbers in 2022 when he caught 42 passes for 508 yards and seven touchdowns.

As for Carr, in his first year with the Saints, he started all 17 games and completed 68.4% of his passes for 3,878 yards, 25 touchdowns, and just eight interceptions. However, not everything was smooth sailing and New Orleans clearly has a lot of work to do to improve throughout the offseason. We’ll see if growing closer off the field during the offseason will make the team better on the field next season.

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