The 2022 season has been a roller coaster ride so far for Diontae Johnson and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Going back to the beginning of training camp, Johnson sat out while waiting for a contract extension. With the new offense being without a veteran quarterback and two veteran wide receivers, there was a clear need for a legitimate ‘WR1’ and Johnson knew he could be exactly that. Then at the end of the first week of August, Johnson and the Steelers agreed to a two-year, $36,710,000 contract to lock him in Pittsburgh through the 2024 season.
With the business matters attended to, Johnson was primed to lead the receiving corps this year. However, the first quarter of the season has been anything but steady for Johnson.
Steelers' Diontae Johnson (#18) gets ready to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Pittsburgh, PA on October 16th, 2022. | Credit: Jordan Schofield/SteelerNation (@JSKO_PHOTO on Twitter)
Working with different quarterbacks throughout camp and not knowing who will be throwing passes in the regular season is tough for everyone on offense. For the sake of Johnson, he not only had to play catch-up after missing early time, but he had to continue his new-found reliable hands he discovered last year. Things were on the up-and-up heading into Cincinnati in the opening week with Mitch Trubisky starting at quarterback, only to come back down to earth after their crazy victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
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Pittsburgh Steelers AT MIAMI DOLPHINS (-7.5) -- LOCK IN THE UNDERDOG STEELERS
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Continued struggles on offense has led to a variety of questions and finger-pointing as to who to blame. Although Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin preaches they shut out the outside noise, the constant “boo’s” from the home crowd are hard to ignore. For the first home game versus the New England Patriots, the outside noise was, say, noticeable yet tolerable. But when the offensive struggles continued in Week 4 against the New York Jets, things reportedly boiled over in the Steelers’ locker room after the opening half of the game.
Steelers' Diontae Johnson (#18) makes a cut upfield against the New York Jets in Pittsburgh, PA. | Credit: Jordan Schofield/SteelerNation (@JSKO_PHOTO on Twitter)
After Sunday’s action against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported a halftime altercation between Trubisky and Johnson during the game versus the Jets that may have led to the change to Pickett. Earlier this week, Tomlin was his usual vague self in confirming those reports and if the change at quarterback was the result of that:
“Our business is our business. Everyone wants to win. If it transpired, it’s good. It probably means there’s a couple guys that wanted to win. If it didn’t transpire, it probably means that it should have because we are aggressively pursuing victory. Sometimes that’s emotional.”
Although Trubisky hasn’t addressed these reports head-on, Diontae Johnson did on Wednesday after the Steelers' practice.
Listening to Johnson, it sounds like the reported “incident” is in the past:
"I don’t want to get too much into detail. We’re both passionate about the game. Stuff happens during football. We’re fine, we talked about it. We made up, better over the whole situation.""No hard feelings towards each other. That’s still my guy at the end of the day. I’m gonna still keep playing for him, cheering for him. Whatever it is that he needs me to do to help him look good out there, I’m gonna do it. Like I said, there’s no bad blood between us at all. It’s just us being football players at times and we’re not gonna let that stop us from achieving the goal that everybody is trying to achieve around here.”
Steelers' Diontae Johnson watches on during the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Pittsburgh, PA. | Credit: Arron Anastasia/Pittsburgh Steelers
In last week’s win, rookie quarterback, Kenny Pickett was knocked out of the game due to a concussion. This led to Trubisky getting called into action with 7:24 left in the third quarter and leading impressive drives to close out the game. Included in that quarter-and-a-half of football, Trubisky showed glimmers of what the Steelers and fans alike were looking for in the first few games.
When the dust settled, Trubisky finished with 144 passing yards on 12 attempts with a touchdown, a 142.4 quarterback rating, and a critical game-saving fumble recovery. While still listed as the backup to Pickett on the depth chart, Trubisky proved he still has yet to hit his ceiling as an NFL quarterback. But although Pickett is in the league’s new concussion protocol, he was still able to take some first team reps in Wednesday's practice session. Johnson kept his eye on the rookie and is optimistic of his status come Sunday:
"He [Pickett] looked good today. Didn't seem like nothing was throwing him off. He was just fine throwing the ball and trying to get the rhythm going. Like I said, he just looked fine, feel like he gonna be ready to go."
Johnson is in dire need of a big game on Sunday night against the Miami Dolphins. He has yet to eclipse the century mark in receiving yards in a game and hasn’t touched the endzone besides a two-point conversion. Of course, the offense as a whole took six weeks for a receiver to score a touchdown, but Johnson was lobbing for top-tier receiver money and is slow to reach his potential so far this season.
Going against the 25th-ranked pass defense in the league on Sunday night who is averaging over 256 yards through the air to opposing offenses, Johnson should see a lot of opportunities in Miami. The best way to ease all concerns and emotions in the locker room would come in the form of a second-consecutive conference win this week.
What do you think about the reported incident? Are you impressed with Johnson so far this season? Let us know in the comments below!
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