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Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Tez Johnson.
This is probably not the way Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Tez Johnson wanted to spend the offseason following a promising rookie year
Johnson, 5-foot-10 and 165 pounds, was a 7th round pick (No. 235 overall) by the Buccaneers in the 2025 NFL draft who became the lightest player to take the field in NFL history last season and finished with 28 receptions for 322 yards and 5 touchdowns in 16 games.
All Johnson should be worried about this offseason is getting better at football and how he can make an contribution in a stacked wide receivers room.
Instead, he’s dealing with a healthy dose of scandal in his personal life after his ex-fiancee, Laila Thompson-Wainer, went very, very public with the reasons behind their broken engagement.
Johnson Allegedly Cheated On Day of Engagement
Thompson-Wainer, who works for the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, posted a 5-minute TikTok video where she explained how she eventually found out Johnson — allegedly — cheated on her twice on the day of their engagement in February 2025, sharing a series of explicit, sexual messages she said Johnson sent to his ex-girlfriend in the morning before they got engaged and then again that evening.
“Tez Johnson has shown us the difference between a recreational cheater and a REAL cheater,” Barstool Sports’ Jack Mac said on Threads.
Johnson shared all the details of his engagement on his Instagram account at the time, which included a trip to a reptile zoo, a romantic proposal along with a beach photoshoot and sushi dinner.
All details of their relationship have been wiped from both Johnson and Thompson-Wainer’s Instagram accounts.
“For some reason,” Thompson-Wainer said on her TikTok. “You cheat before and after you propose, the morning of and the night — that’s just something that I will never understand. I’ve given up on trying to understand how someone can be that evil. I think you just have to be a sociopath. And that’s just it at the end of the day.”
From TMZ: “NFL player Tez Johnson’s ex-fiancée just put him on blast times a billion — claiming the Tampa Bay Buccaneers receiver cheated on her with sexual texts to a former partner before AND after he proposed last year.”
Tez Johnson Long Shot To Make Bucs 53-Man Roster
Because of his size, being a 7th round pick and added to a wide receiver room that was already stacked with NFL All-Pro talent and a 1st round pick in 2025 No. 19 overall pick Emeka Egbuka, Johnson was a long shot to even make Tampa Bay’s roster.
Still, he found himself playing a critical role in the offense at times — especially with injuries that kept veterans Mike Evans and Chris Godwin out for large chunks of the regular season.
Johnson may have made the final decision easy for the Buccaneers with his electric performance in a 23-19 loss to the Buffalo Bills in Tampa Bay’s preseason finale on August 24 — one that included a backflip that went viral after Johnson caught a touchdown pass.
“Rookie wide receiver Tez Johnson, who missed the first preseason game because of a leg injury, hauled in all eight of his targets for 58 receiving yards and a touchdown and was the player of the game,” ESPN’s Jenna Laine wrote.
Tony Adame covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame
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