Getty Diontae Johnson looks on during warm-ups.
There’s high drama surrounding Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Diontae Johnson after a cryptic tweet hit the Internet and caused an uproar among the fanbase.
“Ain gone say to [sic] much… stay tuned,” followed by the 100 emoji, Johnson wrote in a January 10 tweet.
Sounds pretty innocent, right?
Johnson used seven words literally to convey he isn’t saying much. And now it’s all Steelers fans and media are talking about. Ironically, the fanbase interpreted the tweet as saying plenty, including Diontae Johnson wants to be traded or that he’s unhappy with Pittsburgh’s offense.
What started as people questioning the tweet snowballed into a manufactured narrative that Johnson unfollowed the Pittsburgh Steelers on social platforms and removed the team from his bio — similar to that of Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray nearly one year ago in 2022.
All of this led to Steelers pundit Mark Madden tweeting, “Diontae Johnson gets open, drops balls, doesn’t score touchdowns, &now he’s throwing a hissy fit? Over what? ***k him. He’s mid.”
Diontae Johnson gets open, drops balls, doesn’t score touchdowns, &now he’s throwing a hissy fit? Over what? ***k him. He’s mid.
Only Diontae Johnson never threw a hissy fit. It appears he either never followed the team or stopped following it during his contract dispute.
Dionate Johnson Focused on Improving
2022 wasn’t a great season for Diontae Johnson or the Pittsburgh Steelers offense as a whole.
“Maybe next year might be my year to get in the end zone, 10-plus or whatever,” Johnson told Steelers media following Pittsburgh’s 28-14 January 8 win over the Cleveland Browns. “I have to keep my head down and just keep leading. That’s the more important thing, but it’s frustrating to not get in there. But really at this point, it is what it is.”
Johnson is referring to his catches-to-touchdown ratio. 86 to 0. It’s an embarrassing statistic that will haunt the receiver throughout the offseason until he starts consistently finding paydirt.
As the regular season came to a close on January 8, that stat earned Johnson a place in NFL history that no one wants to be in — most catches and targets (147) in a season without a score.
Ben Roethlisberger discussed the surprising result in his January 10 Footbahlin podcast.
“I wish I knew the exact stat, but there was some sort of a number they showed during the game that Diontae Johnson has so many catches, maybe second in the NFL of all-time, catches without a touchdown,” Roethlisberger said. “Which blows my mind because the guy is so stinking good.”
The fourth-year receiver came painfully close to scoring on a beautiful 32-yard reception on a critical 3rd-and-8. A defender tackled him just shy of the endzone.
this is elite stuff
It seemed a fitting play for a struggling Steelers offense. The unit seemed to find its rhythm in the second half of the season, only to have its fate decided by a field goal kick from the Miami Dolphins.
Of course, Johnson isn’t the only one to blame for Pittsburgh’s offensive woes. Many point to offensive coordinator Matt Canada or rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett. Either way you slice it, for the third time in four seasons, the team ranked in the bottom 21 of the league in points scored.