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The beginning of Diontae Johnson‘s career came at the tail end of future Hall of Fame quarterback Ben Roethlisberger‘s, and Johnson’s rookie season was spent without Roethlisberger for 16.5 games. As Roethlisberger dealt with a season-ending elbow injury sustained in Week 2 of the 2019 season, Johnson caught passes from a combination of Mason Rudolph and Devlin “Duck” Hodges, leading the Steelers with 59 catches.
But the veteran receiver spent enough time with Roethlisberger and now Kenny Pickett to get into the differences between the two in an interview with Bo Marchionte from college2pro.com.
His initial reaction? “Whoa.”
“From my rookie having Ben then to Kenny is a big change. You got an 18-year guy to a two-year guy,” Johnson said.
With a nearly two-decade career comes experience, something that Pickett has barely scratched the surface of. But the 13 games he played last year should have a positive impact on how he performs in year two.
“Then there is the experience, but at the same time, [Pickett] is just as smart,” Johnson said. “So, the arm might [not] be like Ben, but [Pickett] got the heart. He’s a good football player. He’s never going to give up. He is always going to try to be the best at throwing or reading. Whatever it is, he will work his ass off to be the best at it.”
Chemistry Between Kenny Pickett & Diontae Johnson
This is the first offseason with Pickett firmly entrenched as Pittsburgh’s quarterback, which means all first-team reps with his receivers — a huge part of building on that chemistry that started coming on in the latter half of 2022.
“Repetition is for real,” Johnson said. “If you don’t have those repetitions, the timing isn’t going to be down. If you don’t have the timing down, then the ball is going to be all over the place. I feel like knowing who you got that has helped me out personally. You don’t have to think about who is throwing you the ball.”
Johnson added that there’s value in there being no question about who’s at the helm of the offense. “You can kind of prepare, like, I got such-and-such as a quarterback. Helps you know what to do. I’m not saying anything negative toward any of them [quarterbacks]. iIt just helps you to know what to expect. So, I feel like that has helped me out a lot.”
While the offensive game plan didn’t change between Mitch Trubisky and Pickett, each has his own tendencies. It took Johnson and his colleagues time to adjust to the rookie — something they don’t have to be concerned with this season.
But of all Steelers receivers, he’s well-versed in catching passes from different guys. He’s played five different quarterbacks who have started at least five games since 2019, Marchionte noted.
Kenny Pickett’s Expectations for Diontae Johnson
As much of a storied past as the Steelers have, the only thing that matters now is present, and Pickett is excited about it and the potential for Diontae Johnson to have a bounce-back season. In case you hadn’t heard, Johnson had zero touchdowns in 2022 — a record no receiver wants to be in the history books for.
Diontae Johnson just broke potentially the most unbreakable record in professional football.
147 targets with ZERO touchdowns. No one else is within 20 targets of him on the historical leaderboard with no scoring plays.
Unbelievable stuff.
“We’re gonna get him the ball, he’s gonna do his thing. We had some bad luck [last season] … I’m excited for him to have a big year,” Pickett said on the July 17 episode of “Not Just Football with Cam Heyward.” “He’s gonna have a bounce-back year, and I know he’s putting a lot of work in. I’m excited with how the offense went in the spring. It’ll be a good year.”