If there is one quarterback who knows the full potential of WR Diontae Johnson, it is future Hall of Famer Ben Roethlisberger. Johnson’s lone Pro Bowl season was Roethlisberger’s final year in the NFL.
In the two years they worked together, Johnson had 195 receptions for 2,084 yards and 15 touchdowns, but he has otherwise played with pretty lousy quarterbacks. That changes now that he was traded to the Baltimore Ravens. Roethlisberger thinks that will be a very good thing for the Ravens.
“I think you’ll start seeing a lot more of him,” Roethlisberger said of Johnson via his Footbahlin’ podcast on YouTube. “It’s probably a smart move for him. He was with the Panthers, who obviously, things weren’t going well down there. And you instantly go from one of the worst teams in the league to one of the best, to a contender. And so I think it’s a good move for Diontae. I think it makes them even more dangerous…I think they have two MVP candidates on offense, and you’re just adding another guy that can stretch the field, that can do some things — another weapon for Lamar. So I just think that it makes them that much more dangerous of a team.”
Johnson wasn’t well-liked in Pittsburgh by the end of his tenure, but there is no doubt that he is one of the premier route runners in the league. He is elite at getting separation, and now he will be in an offense where not much attention is paid to him by opposing defenses. Along with WRs Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman, and TEs Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely, the Ravens have everything they need for a dangerous passing game. This is a big problem for defenses focused on stopping the ground game powered by Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson.
This video was recorded before the trade deadline day, so Roethlisberger doesn’t have the latest info on Mike Williams or Preston Smith being on the Steelers. That being said, he went on to say the Steelers aren’t in the same category as the Ravens or Bills yet in the landscape of the AFC. Johnson makes that gap even trickier to close. We will see if that gap does exist in just a couple of weeks when the Ravens come to Pittsburgh for the Steelers’ first AFC North matchup of the year.
