Should Steelers Want Reunion with Diontae Johnson?
As if Steelers-Ravens week needed any more sizzle to the fire, Baltimore released former Pittsburgh wide receiver Diontae Johnson on Friday, and he will begin next week on waivers.
Earlier this year in March, Pittsburgh decided to part ways with him by trading their long time number one option to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for cornerback Donte Jackson. At the time, it was understood that this was a reset that would offer both sides a fresh start in new circumstances. For different reasons, both sides of the equation had higher aspirations for how their respective seasons would play out.
This is especially true for Johnson, who is on pace for his least productive season as a pro with just 363 yards in 2024. As has been the case for essentially his entire career, the play of his quarterbacks was extremely uninspiring which explains that helps explain the lack of production. Still, it’s a big red flag that the Panthers, who don’t exactly have a ton of talent in on their roster in general, were seemingly perfectly fine with jettisoning him off to Baltimore in exchange for a day three pick swap.
As we have seen with the acquisition of Mike Williams, those in-season trades can be a bit tricky in terms of getting those new playmakers fully acclimated to the offensive system. One would still assume that Johnson would have been pretty ecstatic about playing with Lamar Jackson, an elite passer that is having yet another MVP-caliber campaign. All in all, he played just 39 snaps prior to declining to enter the game when asked by his coaching staff which ultimately led to his release. Johnson’s reputation has been severed behind his closed doors and in the view of the public.
The Steelers never moved on from Johnson for purely football reasons, regardless of how they may publicly frame those explanations. Jackson, the cover man that they acquired via trade, was someone that was set to be released prior to the trade and the Steelers worked out a pay cut prior to making the move. Pittsburgh’s plan was to prioritize George Pickens development, both on and off the field. From an on-field perspective, that has been a success with him having an ultra-productive year prior to the hamstring injury that has sidelined him the past three weeks. The issue is that the front office struck out on a myriad of attempts to acquire talent to compliment their third-year prodigy.
Career journeyman, Van Jefferson has been the de-facto WR2, operating outside on the majority of his snaps. Among his peers at his position with at least 25 targets, he ranks 109th out of 114 qualifying players. The production in the passing game has been one-dimensional to say the least and you can feel how fragile that approach can be when it gets to this point in the season. Not only does roster attrition begin to set in, with Pickens missing the last three games, but you start to play better teams with defenses that are going to make you work a little bit harder to matriculate the ball down the field by prioritizing taking away your best player.
Over the next 24 hours, as the 4 p.m. Monday waiver deadline approaches, there’s going to be a ton of discourse around the potential reunion between Diontae Johnson and the Steelers organization. It’s worth combing through the thought process behind bringing him back into the fold but also why it may not make sense in some ways.
Pros
At 29-years old, Johnson hasn’t simply forgotten how to get open against quality competition. The reason why he always commanded so many targets on a yearly basis is because quarterbacks, regardless of talent level, like throwing to guys who can create space for themselves and in turn, wide open throwing lanes for their signal callers. His trump card has always been his ability to tempo his routes with a deep bag of tricks to defeat press coverage before snapping off routes seamlessly at the break point. Even though this offense is very different from what he played in last season from a schematic standpoint, this offense could really use someone who can win one-on-one on the perimeter. Not only that, added depth would be good peace of mind in the event that Pickens were to suffer a setback, knowing how tricky those soft tissue injuries can be.
Cons
In this run-heavy offensive approach with wide receivers often operating in tight splits, blocking is paramount. That is simply not something that Johnson has ever been particularly good at or even willing to do. That alone means he’s not an every-down player and at this point in his career. Johnson clearly still believes he’s more than that.
The questions around the potential acquisition don’t revolve around his ability to catch the football, but his ability to be a good teammate and buy into what the team is trying to accomplish. It’s worth noting that not one, not two, but three teams have decided that they are better off without him (without gaining any sort of notable compensation in return) in the short span on nine months. There are obvious negative ramifications to how this could affect the locker room if things go south quickly.
RELATED: Ravens WR Diontae Johnson Has No Hard Feelings Toward Steelers: ‘It’s All Love’
Verdict
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has been the poster boy for allowing vibrant personalities to express themselves while controlling their egos in house. When Pittsburgh gives up on a player like this for similar reasons, they normally don’t find their way back home. From the outside looking in, both sides appear to be particularly desperate. Russell Wilson desperately needs another target to throw to if this team wants to make a serious push in the postseason.
On the flip side, Johnson’s career has hit a self-inflicted rock bottom just months before he was set to be one of the top free agents in the league.
There’s also a chance that another team higher up on the waiver wire order takes a flier on the veteran pass catcher before the Steelers even have the chance to bring him back in. It’s impossible to know exactly just how much the team soured on him as a person prior to shipping him off this spring and if the circumstances warrant such an act of desperation.
Pittsburgh’s coaching staff deserves the benefit of the doubt in situations like this and whatever they decide internally, shouldn’t be heavily questioned.
Read This Next
