Giants tight end Theo Johnson missed the Week 17 game in Las Vegas with an illness and has already been ruled out of Sunday’s season finale against the Cowboys.
Johnson, though, attended the Knicks-Hawks game Friday nigt at Madison Square Garden and smiled and waved when he was shown on the Garden Vision screen.
Why was Johnson feeling well enough to attend a basketball game but not well enough to play football?
This raised all sorts of delusional “Giants are tanking’’ theories on social media, as if they were purposely keeping a healthy player off the field to enhance their chances of losing in order to claim the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Well, as it turns out, Johnson is dealing with an infection but not the flu or COVID, where being out in public is a risk to himself or others.
He is dealing with an illness, but he was not at risk of spreading that illness to others.
“I am not sick,” Johnson wrote in an Instagram Story early Saturday morning featuring a tweet showing him attending the Knicks’ 111-99 loss.
Johnson, a 2024 fourth-round draft pick from Penn State, finished second on the team (to Wan’Dale Robinson) with 45 receptions for 528 yards.
He led the team with five touchdown catches, and Pro Football Focus lists Johnson with seven dropped passes this season.
Four Giants players were slowed with illness this past week.
Johnson was declared out for the game, wide receiver Jalin Hyatt is listed as questionable, while outside linebacker Abdul Carter and nose tackle Dexter Lawrence both missed practice time this week but have no injury designation for the matchup against the Cowboys.
