Dionte Johnson has to go!

I really hope the Steelers trade this guy. He is by far my least favorite Steeler in the last decade. I dislike him even more than Brown and Bell.

Two news reports in the last few days reported two different things.

1. It was reported that there is division within the team over who they want as the QB. The report specifically mentioned the WR room and Johnson specifically as wanting Rudolph to start. I have a big problem with him expressing his opinion publicly on this. It isn’t his say. All it does is create division and animosity.

2. Johnson apparently is going to have a hold in again because he is approaching the last year of his contract. Everything about this guy just reaks of selfishness.

He is completely soft, he goes backwards because he is afraid of contact, he wines and complains, he drops balls, he doesn’t fit Arthur Smith's offense, he doesn’t block, he is a Prima Donna and thinks he is way better than he is. He is a terrible influence on Pickens and is bad for the locker room.

If we can get a third or fourth rd for the guy I would love to trade him and get some bulkier yac receivers in here who are team first and can block.

Oh I forgot to mention he drops the ball and runs wrong routes and throws his QB under the bus. We will never take the next step keeping players like this around.

 

Get rid of him and sign Mike Evans. That guy just does his job and does it very well

 

Keep productive players.
And let Mike Tomlin apply his strength with personalities/relationships to have the best team possible.

 

sign everyone. cut everyone. which is it? i'm so confused.

 

You forgot we need to trade everyone also. So it’s sign, cut, trade. Repeat. Oh and fire every coach!

 

he should be part of a nice trade package.........for Justin Fields

ready for him to leave also, for many reasons. some are stated here.

 

Steelers are so cheap they can't buy pens or a knife sharpener.

 

He certainly hasn't played like a #1 WR the past 2 seasons and I don't like the $10M payday in 2024. Warren had more catches than DJ coming out of the backfield last season. Might as well get something for him in a trade as his contribution on the field doesn't seem to be worth the investment.

 

At least a thought out and reasonable response. I think they almost have to keep him because the CAP hit is actually less this year than what you could find on the open market and the WR room gets pretty bare after DJ and Pickens. I don't think his trade value would justify that route either, I get the short comings you mentioned, but he also is a good option.

 

One less guy for Fields to almost throw to when he leads the league in Int's. but he was a first round pick for the Bears, we love that.

 

Sometimes there is value in addition by subtraction.

 

What I have a problem with is someone starting a thread with "It has been reported..." and then just accepting that and damning a player to Hell over it. "It has been reported..." has been used to link us with every qb in the league, to have Pickett ready to demand a trade, and a million other things that just aren't true. But heck, "It's been reported..." so it must be true. Or, we'll just pretend in a week it didn't happen and we never said anything about it.

 

1. I can understand not liking the public comments. It is certainly not 100% what you want to see, but also a very understandable stance. Diontae was a VERY productive WR for the first 3 years of his career, only to pick up Kenny as his QB and morph into a meme because he couldn't get into the endzone. Not entirely his fault, but it has to be frustrating to get all that bad press simply because he had 1 TD catch in 29 weeks spanning from the beginning of 2022 through Kenny's injury vs Arizona. Then he caught 5 TD passes in the final 7 weeks (including the playoffs), with Trubisky and Rudolph throwing him the ball. Funny how a lot of the WR attitude issues we had vanished after Kenny went down. Pickens even had a 0 target game where he was super involved and not throwing a tantrum at all. These guys were just more mentally engaged with other QB's at the helm.
- Think of it if you were in the same situation at your work. You have a team member whose performance not only affects your own performance, but also plays heavily into how much you get paid. That guy sucks at his job and negatively affects your bonus potential and future salary expectations... How do you handle that? A friendly conversation? Sure. What about when it continues to happen... maybe say something to your boss? After it continues to happen further... You check out a bit? Make some comments more openly to try to foster change? Its not as crazy as you think when you look at it this way.

2. I could care less about the business side of it. Hines Ward held out for more money. So did TJ Watt. NFL players make 95%+ of the money they will make in their lives on the football field. They have to maximize this to the best of their abilities in order to secure the best future for themselves and their family. I can't begrudge a guy for the business side of it. We love the logo not the player as fans, but we have to remember that the organization has close to 0 loyalty to the players too. They would cut even the best veteran soldier that has been with them (and produced) for years if it saved them a few million bucks. Its part of the business. The players having a bit of leverage in the matter isn't really a bad thing.

I would be fine if we aren't extending Diontae, but he is a good WR. He's a guy that would absolutely shine with a high end QB since he is basically the league's most open WR year after year. We shouldn't just get rid of him to be rid of him. We don't have any other good options and until we do I don't see him as expendable. A high draft choice at WR or a bigger free agent acquisition could change this of course, but I don't see it happening this year. To me, I would certainly consider extending him for 2-3 years. We can have him for a shorter amount of time (buying us the time to eventually replace him) and he gets the opportunity for another good contract after it is up. Best for both parties IMO.

 

On your first point. I certainly understand how the Qb can impact the play of the WR. However does it effect his giving up on a play when the RB fumbles or he just doesn’t block because he is sulking over the previous play or his inability to hold onto the ball in crucial situations? Not to mention he is very slight and is afraid of contact. That isn’t the desired skill set for Arthur Smiths offense. He is a liability in blocking. Sometimes guys are perceived to be better than they are or irreplaceable. He certainly sin’t one of them even though he acts like he is. To me if the guy above me was hindering my performance and others and my boss didn’t do anything about it I would probably look for work elsewhere. Obviously it isn’t that easy in the NFL but it speaks to Tomlin allowing this to happen. You can’t replace a QB that easy but you certainly can address attitudes in a locker a room and how people respond to negativity. Its bad enough to have a guy who was ultra productive with a that attitude like AB or an uber talented WR with a ton of potential like GP but DJ is neither of those and plus you can not have two guys like that in the WR room it is impossible to manage.

On your second point it is more of what I already said. You can not compare Dj to Ward or Watt. Those guys were leaders and at the top of their perspective positions who were and are ultra productive. DJ is not that. He is absolutely expandable and certainly not worth $10 Million in my mind ... not for this offense and not for this team. He would probably be great in some other offenses but he certainly is not a number 1 in this league and is not deserving of an extension. If he expects that and we give it to him that is foolish on our part. IF we don’t give it to him and he sulks or sits out or plays half heartedly then it is better to trade him when we can get something for him.

My question to you is how do you think DJ will react if we do not extend his contract? I think he will be a problem and will not react maturely to the situation. Trade now and bring someone else in during FA before it becomes a problem after FA and the Draft and we have no leverage.

 

Johnson’s stats puts him on par with Tyler Boyd. The only reason why he can get away with crap is that we don’t have a Chase or Higgins to put him in his place. Trade him for draft capital and sign Boyd. I’d bet we won’t miss a beat

 

I like what we have in the wr room right now. Allen will most likely be cut but we added Callaway. Boyd or a draft pick would be nice.

 

1. I certainly don't condone either play by DJ not being mentally engaged through the whistle on a play he thought was down, and the play where Pickens didn't block for Warren. DJ has really only been an "attitude issue" this past season and it really has to do with how he has handled his feelings on Pickett and how he let those feelings affect his mental engagement. I agree that DJ isn' irreplaceable, but he is a very productive player and would be a big blow when we don't have any other viable options at WR to fill his role at the moment. He is more irreplaceable now than he has ever been. Agreed on the "looking for work elsewhere" thing. If I were him, that is what I would be doing (especially if the Steelers are set on committing to Pickett). There are 31 NFL teams that have a better starting QB situation than Pickett, and he would excel catching passes from a good QB. He's just too good/talented. DJ obviously isn't as good as AB but if he had Ben throwing him the ball instead of Pickett, I'd have no doubt that he would be 1200 yards and 8 TD's every season.

2. Yeah, but the reality is that all the players HAVE to look out for themselves. I don't see a hold out as a negative thing... it's just business. I disagree that he isn't worth 10 million dollars. He easily is. 10-11 million bucks is Marques Valdez-Scantling, Tyler Boyd, Tim Patrick, Brandin Cooks, Michael Thomas, Allen Lazard, Michael Gallup money. These are all guys that DJ is significantly better than at the current moment, even with a terrible QB throwing him the ball. He's a 15 million dollar player who would look like a 20 million dollar player with a high end QB. He won't sulk if we don't give him a contract, it would be his contract year. He'd play his a$$ off to try to make himself more money on his next contract. He'd also not want to create too big of an outward narrative that he is a problem to make sure that teams wouldn't shy away from signing him in the open market.

I'd sign him 2-3 years and somewhere around 13-15 million if possible. Make the last year easy to get out of as well. He might take a bit less with more guarantees. Either way it buys us some time to find a #2 for the future, it doesn't impede us from paying Pickens, and it allows DJ to be young enough for another big contract after this one is up. Win-win imo.

 

Boyd has been a good player in the league, but he is 30 and his game is declining. DJ is younger and more talented. They fare comparatively the past 2 seasons because Boyd has been catching passes from Joe Burrow and DJ catching passes from mostly Kenny Pickett and Mitch Trubisky. Hard to imagine a scenario where if the QB situation was reversed that DJ wouldn't massively outshine Boyd. That doesn't mean Boyd wouldn't be a great option for our #3 WR (I think he would), but there is only a few good years left in Boyd. We would certainly feel the pain from a move like the one you suggested.

 

This is the Quote that everyone is talking about. I like the fact that DJ has a "Positive" attitude about a fellow teammate.

“I’ve been on the Mason plane, so it wasn’t nothing I wasn’t expecting for him not to do. I kind of had high hopes of him doing what he’s been doing when he became the starter,” receiver Diontae Johnson said. “I hope he gets the job next year, and do what he’s got to do, but he did a great job in my opinion.”

I have no problem with a player on the team coming out and giving praise to a teammate.

 

And dammit..... where are our cheerleaders!!!

 

As steelsrock151 mentioned, it is dubious to complain about him "expressing his opinion publicly" when he hasn't said anything publicly.
Both examples given are second hand gossip, not direct quotes.

 

THANKS TOMLIN!!!!

 

Dionte Johnson and a 4th for Justin Field.

 

YAA no cheerleaders wtf. Can't even afford them. But let's cut Johnson then sign Johnson then trade Johnson. Then ask if we can have him back. So, we can cut him again.----------------

 

Johnson the roundabout WR