While there is no hard and fast timeline for his return, the Pittsburgh Steelers can reasonably anticipate that they will not have WR Diontae Johnson on the field for a short while. Suffering a hamstring injury in Sunday’s loss to the San Francisco 49ers, he could miss several games, but Calvin Austin III is hopeful he can deliver some of the things the veteran is capable of in his absence.
“Obviously, his quickness and releases and route nuances. I’ve just been watching him a lot throughout camp and stuff. Just how he can create that separation”, Austin said of what he has picked up from Johnson, via the team’s website. “That’s something I definitely want to emulate”.
A fourth-round pick out of Memphis in 2022, Austin missed the entirety of his rookie season due to a foot injury. He made his NFL debut on Sunday, catching six passes for 37 yards, half of his receptions producing successful plays. He only got to return one punt, and that was only to preserve field position on a kick that would have settled inside the 5-yard line.
This is not the first time that he has talked about his ambition to incorporate what he takes away from Johnson into his own game. He talked a month ago about getting coached up by the veteran on his release and how much he’d watched Johnson then.
The veteran’s primary trait, as the above implies, is his nuance. Whether that’s getting off the line of scrimmage and creating separation off his release or opening up space at any other part of the route, he is regarded as one of the very best in the business at getting open.
Austin has done well to internalize those lessons and adapt it to his game, though it remains still a work in progress. At least based on the observations of former Pro Bowl WR Steve Smith, it’s about knowing when to harness the power of his craft, because he has all the ability already. He just needs to “take a little sauce off it”.
“He gave the DB a one-two-step rocker step”, Smith described one rep he observed at training camp. “He shook him and then he ran his route, gave him another. He put so much sauce on the route that he let the corner get juked back into good coverage”.
The hilarity of the idea of juking somebody so hard that you actually juke him into good coverage aside, Smith makes a very good point. Getting open is not just about having great athleticism and ability. It’s understanding how to employ it—and how to identify when you’ve already won. You don’t pull a double move if you don’t need to unless it’s a part of the play design.
With Johnson likely to miss at least a few weeks, Austin is bound to get his fair share of snaps. He played 35 snaps last week, 56 percent of the total. Assuming that the Steelers throw a reasonable percentage of the time, I would expect him to be closer to 65-70 percent of the snaps moving forward until the veteran returns to the lineup.
