Trading away wide receiver Diontae Johnson to the Carolina Panthers Tuesday night for cornerback Donte Jackson and a pick swap was a very surprising move for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
But it might have been a move long in the making for the franchise.
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac, in response to a couple of readers in his weekly chat Wednesday, the Steelers grew tired of the headaches with Johnson and decided to move on. For Dulac, part of the decision was to remove Johnson’s attitude from the receiver room.
That was a large part of it, though it’s seems comical to think someone is worried about [George] Pickens being badly influenced. One way or the other, they were going to move on from DJ,” Dulac wrote in response to a reader. “….That was part of it. And the incidents with his teammates — Mitch Trubisky at halftime in Week 4 in 2022; the post-game dustup with Minkah Fitzpatrick after the loss to the Browns. Steelers had enough. They were moving on from [Johnson] one way or another.”
“….DJ was a good receiver, they just got tired of the headaches. It’s like an old coach once told me — when the production outweighs the aggravation, you keep him; when the aggravation outweighs the production, you get rid of them,” Dulac added regarding Johnson.
Funny Dulac takes that stance now that the Steelers were moving on from him one way or another when just last week he stated there was a 100% chance Johnson was on the roster for the season opener and could be in line for an extension.
But I digress.
Make no mistake about it: Johnson created some serious headaches on and off the field.
He struggled with drops early in his career, which led to his benching at one point in 2021. Though he cleaned up the drops issues, he had a tendency to run backwards at times during the 2022 season while searching for the big play. He corrected that problem as well, but fans couldn’t seem to move past it.
Then, he had the lack of effort against the Cincinnati Bengals, which led to significant backlash and Johnson apologizing to teammates and the media for his efforts.
On the sidelines, too, Johnson had issues. He got into an altercation during the Browns game on the road and had to be separated from a coach by rookie Broderick Jones. That spilled into the locker room where Johnson and Minkah Fitzpatrick had it out. Johnson also got into a spat with Mitch Trubisky at halftime in Week 4 of the 2022 season.
He was a passionate player who struggled to handle his emotions at times, and in the end the Steelers seemingly had enough of it — at least in the front office.
That led to Tuesday night’s trade, which has now created a gaping hole at receiver on a rebuilding offense. One headache is seemingly gone now, though. We’ll see if it’s for the better.
