The idea that the Pittsburgh Steelers traded WR Diontae Johnson this offseason at least in part to keep him away from influencing George Pickens gained traction among fans. We’ve even seen some hints of that in reports from certain beat writers here and there. But I’m not sure there’s a major storyline in Pittsburgh this offseason that hasn’t seen contradictory reporting.
The story of why the Steelers traded Johnson is no exception, as one would expect. But while I wouldn’t encourage anybody to buy verbatim everything the Steelers say about why they do what they do, it’s also important not to simply believe whatever reports you prefer are true. Mark Kaboly, for one is not aware of any noise suggesting the Johnson trade had anything to do with Pickens.
“I don’t buy that at all”, he wrote recently for The Athletic, responding to a question about that subject. “Too many people had red flags on Pickens before he was drafted to pin anything on Johnson. Johnson was traded because he was heading into the final year of his contract, he wasn’t going to be re-signed and he felt the Steelers’ quarterback situation wasn’t going to put him in the position to cash out on another contract next year”.
While teams viewed Pickens as a potential hot-head coming out of Georgia, Johnson also had his recent issues. From the confrontations with Mitch Trubisky and Minkah Fitzpatrick to lack of effort, he created enough of his own problems.
Of course, Pickens drew plenty of negative attention to himself as well, often for the same or similar reasons. And sometimes he made things worse for himself with awful explanations for his behavior. At one point, facing great scrutiny, he lashed out at reporters; later, the team forced him to retract his comments.
Sometimes the most likely explanation is the simplest, after all. We can reasonably deduce that the Steelers had no plans to re-sign Johnson. And we know from both sides that the team liked CB Donte Jackson, and previously tried to trade for him. We don’t have to like Jackson as much as the Steelers do for the trade to make sense in their vision.
Regardless of the motivation behind the move, trading Johnson still leaves the team with a glaring hole. Pickens is the only significant wide receiver on the roster, with no other starter-quality option. They retain Calvin Austin III, and added Van Jefferson and Quez Watkins, but you’re not counting on any of them.
The Steelers essentially have to add a starting wide receiver in the draft to replace Diontae Johnson. And they also have to hope that their moves this offseason address the issues they had with Pickens. They have a new offensive coordinator in Arthur Smith and a new quarterback in Russell Wilson.
Keeping Pickens happy is the best way to control his behavior—the same is true with many wide receivers. It was true with Johnson as well. Their frustrations were borne out of a lack of opportunities to contribute, often while losing. But at least now they only have one tantrum on their hands instead of two, regardless of why.
