The Baltimore Ravens backslid with a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, and WR Diontae Johnson continues serving as a nonentity. In five games with the Ravens since they traded for him, he still has one catch for six yards. That one catch came at the end of the first half of a game when he was tackled inbounds.
On Sunday, in the Ravens’ loss to the Eagles, Diontae Johnson didn’t even play at all. Making that fact even more significant was an injury to Rashod Bateman, who played just 29 snaps. And curiously, HC John Harbaugh didn’t seem to have an answer as to why he didn’t play.
Asked about Bateman’s injury and if Johnson was available, the reporter noting that it didn’t appear he played, Harbaugh said, “Yes, I’m not really ready to comment on that right now. I will be, [but I] just don’t have enough information right now to talk about that”.
I’m not sure exactly what information the head coach of a team would need to explain why a player sat. Obviously, position coaches have some measure of control over their own units’ personnel. But for a player to not play at all, after an injury to a starter, surely he knows something. Nevertheless, the reality is Diontae Johnson played zero snaps.
And that is after he only played six snaps against the Chargers, 11 against the Steelers, and five against the Bengals. The Ravens played Johnson for 17 snaps in his debut with the team, but he didn’t see a target. He has five targets so far, but just one catch. The Ravens targeted him twice against his former team, and he went 0-for.
Diontae Johnson spent his first five NFL seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he emerged as a starter and Pro Bowler. They traded him this offseason to the Carolina Panthers for Donte Jackson, who has five interceptions. After a decent campaign in Carolina, however, the Panthers hocked him for a late-round pick swap to the Ravens.
Prior to the game against the Steelers, HC Mike Tomlin was asked about facing Diontae Johnson. “They got more significant pieces with larger roles”, he said, in part. Many thought that was taking a shot at his former player, but it was just the reality. And yesterday’s game made that clear.
With Bateman missing most of the game, the Ravens hardly took Zay Flowers off the field. He played 68 of 72 snaps, while Tylan Wallace and Nelson Agholor each played 40. They also used Josh Jones for all of two snaps, and Johnson for none.
Unless there is some behind-the-scenes issue with Diontae Johnson that Harbaugh didn’t want to go into detail with, it just looks like they are struggling to incorporate him into their offense. Despite some Steelers fans’ opinions, he did show in Carolina that he still has some talent.
But right now, Johnson can’t manage to buy a snap, let alone a catch. It will definitely be interesting to hear what Harbaugh has to say next after his peculiar answer. Especially considering just a few weeks ago he was talking about ramping up his usage.
