The tight end brings plenty of personality , and all-around on-the-field skills , as he looks to succeed first-round NFL Draft pick Kenyon Sadiq.
Jamari Johnson is not yet a finished product.
The Oregon tight end has plenty of room to grow on the field, and while the player he’s set to replace is off to the NFL, Johnson is still very much a college athlete capable of providing very college-athlete quotes , like the possible overshare earlier this month about his quarterback’s digestive system that made the rounds.
“He’s a jokester,” Dante Moore said. “I’m pretty sure everyone has heard recently what’s happened.”
Yes, the 6-foot-5, 255-pound senior is the quote-unquote replacement for Kenyon Sadiq, a freak athlete who hauled in 51 passes for 560 yards and eight touchdowns last season before the New York Jets took him in the first round of the NFL Draft.
There are things Johnson is doing to mirror Sadiq, but his quarterback says Johnson is always just going to be himself , and that includes his off-the-field personality.
Plus, it’s not like he asked the question that set himself up.
“Questions need answers,” Johnson said. “And that’s what I’m here for.”
That started to become apparent even before Sadiq left the Ducks. Johnson’s 510 yards last year were the sixth-most by an Oregon tight end in a single season, and he finished his sophomore campaign on an upswing: He grabbed a 41-yard one-handed touchdown catch in the first round of the playoffs against James Madison, piled up 66 yards in the Orange Bowl against Texas Tech and closed out the season with a career-high 83 yards and a touchdown in Oregon’s season-ending loss to Indiana.
It was the most devastating loss of Johnson and Moore’s careers, and an embrace in the locker room afterward set the stage for a 2026 climb back up the mountain.
“That man means the world to me,” Johnson said. “He’s a man amongst boys. That hug was an emotional moment , one, because we lost, and two, I didn’t know if he was going to leave or not.”
Moore would stay.
“Another reason I came back was because of him. The last hug we had in the Indiana locker room, crying on each other’s shoulders. I hate that feeling. It brings fire to my soul right now,” Moore said. “So yeah, he’s going to ball out.”
That, Johnson said, is the plan.
Johnson arrived at fall camp after a summer of “working my tail off,” he said, and his upside showed up in coach Dan Lanning’s comments at media day.
“Last year I sat up here and talked about a tight end at Oregon and how special he was, in Kenyon Sadiq. Jamari is also that special,” Lanning said. “He can run, he can block, he can catch.”
He isn’t quite Sadiq: Oregon’s former tight end had faster straight-line speed, and we’ve yet to see Johnson’s hurdle form. But Johnson brings a more prototypical tight end frame, highlighted by a massive catch radius.
The most important thing Johnson needs to replicate isn’t Sadiq’s style , it’s his importance, and not just in numbers, but in leadership.
“Kenyon used to get to the facility at 4:45 in the morning,” Moore said. “You know, hot tub, stretching, and (Johnson’s) done the same thing with just learning his routine. Not saying he has to play like Kenyon, because at the end of the day, you’re yourself. But just picking up those habits, just learning from the players that have done something in our lives that we want to do.”
Johnson got a taste over the summer of what it feels like to make an impression.
Back home in Rochester, New York, in June, Johnson hosted the Jamari Johnson Youth Football Camp for kids in grades 3 through 12. Much of his day was spent hosting and offering encouragement, but Johnson recalled feeling pretty good about himself after watching his younger cousin haul in a reception following a conversation on the sideline.
“He did the route, ran and scored a touchdown,” Johnson said. “I was like, ‘Oh yeah! This is why you listen to me!'”
Leave a Comment