Former Oregon safety Tysheem Johnson is back in the Pacific Northwest. The Seattle Seahawks signed the undrafted free agent this week, adding another Duck to a secondary that needed depth after placing safety Bud Clark on injured reserve.
Johnson never hid what Oregon meant to him. After two seasons at Ole Miss, the Philadelphia product entered the transfer portal and landed in Eugene — a school he later called a “dream come true.”
In two years with the Ducks, he started 27 of 28 games, logged 137 tackles, five interceptions, eight pass breakups, seven tackles for loss and a sack. He was a physical, interchangeable piece in Dan Lanning’s defense: STAR, field safety, boundary safety. Whatever the call, he was on the field.
The 2023 season announced him. He finished with 70 tackles, two picks and seven pass deflections, earned Pac-12 honorable mention and was named conference Defensive Player of the Week after two interceptions in a win over Utah.
In 2024, he was even more of a constant: 67 tackles (second on the team), a career-high three interceptions and All-Big Ten honorable mention as Oregon rolled through an undefeated regular season and a Big Ten title. His tackling grades from PFF stayed high; so did his snap count. He was the kind of player teammates and coaches trusted on third down and in the red zone.
The NFL path has been harder. Johnson went undrafted in 2025 and signed with the Chicago Bears. An injury ended his first camp.
He later joined the Atlanta Falcons’ practice squad late in the season, signed a reserve/future deal, and was waived in May. Seattle is the third stop in 16 months — and the closest thing to a homecoming the 23-year-old has had since leaving Autzen.
At 5-foot-10 and 195 pounds, Johnson was never going to wow scouts with size. What he brought in Eugene was instincts, physicality and ball skills.
Those traits travel. Special teams will likely be his first door in Seattle; a roster spot would be the next one.
For Oregon fans, the story is simpler: another Duck who started almost every game in two of the program’s best recent seasons now gets another shot, this time a few hours up I-5.
Johnson’s Ducks résumé was built on reliability, not flash.
If that version shows up in Seahawks camp, Eugene will recognize him immediately.
