Diontae Johnson is possibly the most controversial player on the Pittsburgh Steelers roster.
Johnson, a former third round pick out of Toledo, has stablished himself as a productive receiver in the NFL, being one of the best pure route runners in the game. He also draws targets at a high rate, being Pittsburgh’s WR1 the last few seasons.
However, there are several areas that Diontae Johnson tends to struggle with. Matt Harmon who runs Reception Perception which breaks down WR play across the league took to his own YouTube channel to talk about Johnson’s outlook for 2023, calling him far from elite in several different areas.
“Diontae Johnson is not an elite player,” Harmon said. “He is actually a pretty flawed player in some ways. I mean, you mentioned the drop stuff that it’s not nearly as big of a problem as it was the 2020 season when he had like an absurd drop rate and you know, it was just a lot of that is kind of those short little routes you’re going to get blasted, you know, those are where most drops occur. So, there was a little bit of like kind of chicken and egg sort of thing there. The yards after catch stuff where he’s like, ‘Get going downfield pal when you got the ball on your hands’, he’s pretty high on the boneheaded play scale is Diontae Johnson.”
Diontae Johnson’s flaws have been well-documented over the years. He had a career 13 drops back in 2020 and has had a few untimely drops over the years as well. Still, Harmon does mention that drops aren’t that sticky of a stat as Johnson is near the top target earners in the NFL, meaning that he will have a more drops which doesn’t always equate to a high drop rate. For example, Johnson had seven drops on 147 targets last season, coming to a drop rate of 4.8% Tyreek Hill, by comparison had 8 drops on 170 targets this past season, coming to a drop rate of 4.7% which is nearly identical to Johnson.
Still, Johnson’s tendency to run backwards after the catch in attempt to try and make a play often backfires for him. It has become a frustrating issue that Steelers fans point out every time it happens, yelling at their TV screens for Johnson to get what he can take, but he ends up losing yardage on most occasions.
Diontae Johnson is a relentless worker, having made himself into a quality WR in the NFL. However, he isn’t immune from his slip ups as his flaws often get highlighted thanks to the position that he plays. While he may not be at the same level of Justin Jefferson or Cooper Kupp, Johnson is a steady producer that can get open on nearly any route and remains Pittsburgh’s WR1, at least for now.
