The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 offseason practices concluded in the middle of June and next up is their annual training camp, which gets underway in late July at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe. Ahead of training camp, we will preview the team’s offseason roster three players at a time for you as part of a 30-post series. This Steelers roster preview, which includes outlooks for every player, will be done alphabetically by last name to make it easy to follow.
The next three players we will preview ahead of Steelers 2023 training camp are Jason Huntley, Diontae Johnson, and Broderick Jones.
RB Jason Huntley: The Steelers signed Huntley to their practice squad right before the start of the 2022 regular season and the former 2020 fifth round draft pick of the Detroit Lions out of New Mexico State stayed on that unit for most of the year. To date, Huntley, who was most recently with the Philadelphia Eagles, has regretted 18 rushing attempts for 70 yards and three touchdowns in addition to catching one pass for zero yards. Huntley also has returned five kickoffs in the NFL for 120 total yards. He’s played 62 total offensive snaps in the NFL to date and 31 more on special teams. He measured in at his 2020 pro day at 5082, 190-pounds.
Outlook: Huntley, just like several other young running backs on the Steelers’ offseason roster, will be doing battle the remainder of the summer in hopes of grabbing the third-string spot behind Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren. Huntley can help his cause this summer by becoming a special teams asset. Even so, his small stature might limit him in that area and quite honestly, he might have to show his worth as a kick returner. To his credit, Huntley was on the Steelers’ practice squad most of last season, and that’s quite an accomplishment. All told, Huntley might realistically be a better candidate to have a repeat of his 2022 season, meaning being a practice squad player at the start of the 2023 season.
WR Diontae Johnson: In 2022, Johnson played in all 17 regular season games for the Steelers on his way to registering 86 receptions for 882 yards. Johnson, however, failed to find the endzone in 2022, a dubious footnote to his season with all the catches he registered. His catch percentage was also 58.5 and that included several drops, as many as 11, depending on who you trust for the subjective stat. Another notable decline for Johnson in 2022 was his yards gained after the catch. He averaged a career low 2.7 yards in that statistical category last season, well below his career average heading into 2022. Johnson did play a career high 1,042 snaps in 2022.
Outlook: In 2023, Johnson will obviously look to up his touchdowns and yards after the catch totals, two statistical areas that he suffered dearly in throughout the 2022 season. Additionally, Johnson will look to work on dropping fewer passes in 2023 as well. Johnson is the best route runner the Steelers have and thus he should continue to do a fantastic job when it comes to his ability to separate from defensive backs. While Johnson might be hard-pressed to hit 100 receptions and 1,000 receiving yards in 2023, he should come relatively close to those numbers if he can stay healthy. To maximize Johnson’s value to the team in 2023, the ball needs to go to him more in space as a heavy dose of curls, comebacks and outs like last season just won’t be enough.
T Broderick Jones: The Steelers selected Jones in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft out of Georgia and they even traded up a few spots to do so. Jones enters the NFL as essentially just a one-year starter in college and he mainly played left tackle at Georgia. Even so, Jones was easily and widely regarded as one of the top four tackles in this year’s draft class throughout the offseason. In 665 pass blocking snaps during his career at Georgia, Jones was charged with allowing just two sacks, according to Pro Football Focus. For the 2022 season, Jones finished in the top 20 in both pass blocking and run blocking PFF grades for Power 5 Conference tackles. He turned just 22 years old in May.
Outlook: The Steelers drafted Jones this year to be the team’s franchise left tackle for the foreseeable future. Even so, he’ll have to earn that starting job this summer by beating out third year tackle Dan Moore Jr. Should Jones not ultimately be the Steelers’ Week 1 starter at left tackle, it’s probably only a matter of time before he gets the nod at that position. A Week 1 swing tackle role could be in the cards for Jones if the Steelers decide to go with the more experienced Moore to start the 2023 regular season. While Jones did not play much right tackle in games at Georgia during his college career, he practiced at that spot quite regularly in college. We might see him play both sides during training camp and the preseason.
Previous Posts In This Series:
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Montravius Adams, Spencer Anderson, Calvin Austin III
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Luq Barcoo, Keeanu Benton, Chris Boswell
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Miles Boykin, Ja’Marcus Bradley, Hakeem Butler
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Jordan Byrd, Dan Chisena, Le’Raven Clark
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Mason Cole, Dylan Cook, James Daniels
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Duke Dawson, Kevin Dotson, William Dunkle
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Breiden Fehoko, Dez Fitzpatrick, Minkah Fitzpatrick
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Pat Freiermuth, Zach Gentry, Markus Golden
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Alfonzo Graham, Kendrick Green, Darius Hagans
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Madre Harper, Najee Harris, Pressley Harvin III
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Nate Herbig, Nick Herbig, Cameron Heyward
90 In 30: Steelers 2023 Training Camp Preview Series: Connor Heyward, Alex Highsmith, Cole Holcomb
