Bucs rookie WR Tez Johnson confused why he received MVP chants before learning they were for Baker Mayfield
Tez Johnson couldn't figure out why Bucs would chant 'MVP' at him until a veteran told him those were for Baker
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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers continued their hot start to the 2025 season with a 30-19 win over the San Francisco 49ers, moving to 5-1 on the season. They are in that position largely because of a tremendous offensive season led by quarterback Baker Mayfield, who has pushed himself into the MVP conversation (third in MVP odds at FanDuel at 7/2) with a stellar first six games.
Despite being without top receivers Chris Godwin and Mike Evans and seeing top rookie Emeka Egbuka go down with a hamstring injury, Mayfield added another strong performance with 256 yards and two touchdowns. One of those came on a 45-yard strike to rookie Tez Johnson, and the Bucs crowd began to serenade Baker with MVP chants.
Everyone in the stadium knew who those chants were for except for one person, Tez Johnson, which led to an incredible sideline interaction with veteran receiver Sterling Shepard.
"I'm like, Shep, they were chanting 'MVP'? And he was like, yeah. I was like, I ain't do nothing this year. And he was like, they're talking about Baker, Tez. I was like, well that explains it. But he is the MVP."
There’s no telling whether the MVP chants were for Tez or Baker 🤣 pic.twitter.com/yfRGMurtOx
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) October 13, 2025
This is perhaps the best mic'd up interaction on the sidelines since the legendary "What's that bear doin'?" video featuring Robbie Chosen and DJ Moore discussing Panthers' mascot Sir Purr. It's tremendous work by the Bucs' video team to piece this all together and good veteran leadership from Sterling Shepard to explain to the rookie that, no, you are not getting MVP chants on your first career touchdown.
The flip celebration was great, though, and Johnson has done admirably stepping into a bigger role with a beat up Bucs' wide receiver room of late.
