Of the wide receivers who started and finished the season with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2022, only Diontae Johnson had been there the year before. When Chase Claypool was shipped at the trade deadline to Chicago, Johnson became the lone holdover in a room full of wideouts who’d just been brought in that year.
Seemingly a relative introvert, it probably wasn’t the ideal situation for him, suddenly thrust into a role in which he’s expected to be the experienced veteran and vocal leader. He’s making a conscious effort of doing more of that now, which is one of the reasons he feels the room is stronger now.
“We’re clicking way better. We’re a lot closer group than we were last year”, he told Randy Baumann on the WDVE Morning Show, “because [there were] a lot of new guys so we didn’t really have the time to really get that connection. This year we actually spent more time with each other, getting to know each other on and off the field”.
The Steelers drafted two wide receivers in 2022, adding George Pickens in the second round and Calvin Austin III in the fourth. The former led the team in touchdown receptions, the latter spent the season on the Reserve/Injured List.
Added as a free agent was return specialist Gunner Olszewski. Miles Boykin was claimed off waivers after the Baltimore Ravens let him go. Steven Sims was technically another holdover, but never spent a day on the 53-man roster prior to last year (he was elevated from the practice squad a time or two).
While Sims is gone, Pickens, Austin, Olszewski, and Boykin remain, and they are likely to make up at least four of the five or six wide receivers on the 53-man roster, along with Johnson. The other is Allen Robinson II, the only major addition in 2023 to the room, via trade from the Los Angeles Rams.
Robinson has come in as a motivated vocal leader and veteran who has taken some of the burden off Johnson’s shoulders in that regard, but the room has grown as a whole together since last year, just through their time spent in each other’s company.
“That plays a big part when we’re on the field as well, so when you have that, everybody can move as one and we can communicate and that shows the trust between everybody”, Johnson said, about the importance of that chemistry within the position group as it relates to on-field performance.
Much of the group’s struggles in 2022 had little to do with its own room. There was a major transition at the quarterback position with Ben Roethlisberger retiring. The Steelers spent all of the offseason working with Mitch Trubisky as the starter only for him to be yanked at halftime in Week Four in favor of rookie first-round draft pick Kenny Pickett. With a much more stable situation all around, expect better results on the field.
