It seems to be destined that Pittsburgh drafts and develops some incredible talent at wide receiver just to see them leave these days. Throughout their history, receivers like Mike Wallace, Plaxico Burress, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Santonio Holmes, Chase Claypool, and Emmanuel Sanders all play their way out of Pittsburgh some way or another after impressing over the course of their rookie deals. Even complementary receivers like Nate Washington, James Washington, Martavis Bryant, and Markus Wheaton show flashes during their time in Pittsburgh that earns them contracts elsewhere. It seems that Diontae Johnson may be next in line to join that list.

According to Dianna Russini of The Athletic, the Steelers are reportedly “open to listening to trade offers” on their five-year veteran wideout. After playing out his rookie contract as a third-round pick out of Toledo, Johnson signed a two-year, $36.71MM extension. He played through the first year of that deal last season, meaning 2024 will be a contract year for the 27-year-old. Sportskeeda’s Tony Pauline confirms Johnson could be available “if the price is right.”

In the final year of his contract, Johnson is due to receive $10MM of cash with a $7MM base salary and a $3MM roster bonus. With $5.83MM of his initial signing bonus being attributed to the 2024 season, he will represent a cap hit of $15.83MM. If the team were to find a trade partner, they would be able free up $10MM of that salary cap space, eating the $5.83MM they already paid him as dead money.

A down year in 2023 and only five touchdowns in the past two years may have soured the public on Johnson after a career year in 2021, but Johnson has still been consistent enough to place himself firmly in Pittsburgh’s history. His 4,363 receiving yards in black and yellow is good for ninth-most in the franchise’s storied history, surpassing all of the names listed above. Despite his recent scoring drought, his 25 career receiving touchdowns ranks 11th all-time for the Steelers.

There’s sure to be interest in Johnson around the league. His consistency has appeared in his availability over the years. Before missing four games this past season, Johnson had only missed two games in his career. His lowest receiving total of 680 yards came in his rookie season, and he’s shown that he can get into the endzone up to seven or eight times a year. Teams desperate for a WR1 or extremely interested in a strong WR2 will likely be reaching out to Pittsburgh for a price check.

As for the Steelers, if Johnson departs, it will be next man up, per usual. George Pickens seems to have taken the reins of the receiving corps with a stellar sophomore season. They’ve got some young, inexperienced depth in Calvin Austin and Dez Fitzpatrick, as well as some veteran reserve players like Marquez Callaway, Miles Boykin, and Denzel Mims. They will probably want to add to the room to support Pickens, though. While they may take a peek at free agency or trades, like they did last year with Allen Robinson, but they’re just as likely to stick to their usual modus operandi and find a new pass catcher in the draft.

SEPTEMBER 13: Evaluations on Johnson’s injury have produced a timetable that could leave Johnson shut down for a month. The fifth-year wideout is expected to miss up to four weeks with this hamstring ailment, Dulac adds. Coming into this season, Johnson had only missed two games in total as a pro.

SEPTEMBER 12: The Steelers’ defense was dealt a major blow in their Week 1 loss with Cameron Heyward suffering a groin injury which will sideline him for several weeks. The team’s offense will likewise be shorthanded moving forward.

Wideout Diontae Johnson suffered a hamstring injury against the 49ers on Sunday and it is expected to keep him off the field for a few weeks, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Further evaluation will take place later in the week, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette adds. An absence of any significant length would be notable for the Steelers’ receiving corps.

Johnson exited Pittsburgh’s loss against San Francisco in the third quarter and did not return. He did not manage to find the endzone during his limited game action, extending a touchdown drought which spanned all of the 2022 campaign. In spite of that, the 27-year-old remains a major part of the team’s passing game, having recorded at least 86 catches and 882 yards in each of the past three seasons. He eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in 2021, and earned his lone Pro Bowl nod in the process.

That production earned the former third-rounder a two-year, $36.71MM extension last offseason, putting an end to speculation about his short-term future with the organization. Johnson had been pegged as a likely free agent departure, but he is now on the books through 2024. His absence will be felt in a Steelers’ WR room which will now need to lean heavily on second-year deep threat George Pickens and veteran Allen Robinson. The latter, acquired via trade this offseason, was pegged for a move to the slot but he will likely now resume operating on the perimeter, as he has for much of his career. 2022 fourth-rounder Calvin Austin should see an uptick in slot usage.

Pittsburgh is currently without Miles Boykin due to injury, and Cody White is on injured reserve. The Johnson injury thus leaves the team rather thin at the receiver spot moving forward, and plenty will be asked of Pickens, Robinson and tight end Pat Freiermuth (who himself encountered an injury on Sunday) in the passing game when the Steelers play the Browns in Week 2.

In a move which came as something of a surprise in multiple ways, the Steelers extended receiver Diontae Johnson yesterday. The deal came amidst speculation that he would depart next spring in free agency, and carries a lower annual value than he likely would have been able to command on the open market had he taken that path. 

Details about the process resulting in Johnson remaining in Pittsburgh through 2024 have begun to emerge, as detailed by Mark Kaboly of The Athletic (subscription required). He writes that the offer (two years, $36.71MM) was tabled to Johnson “weeks ago.” The Pro Bowler originally sat out of practices in training camp, and it was reported earlier this week that serious negotiations had only just begun, and that a significant financial gap existed between the two parties.

“The offer they gave me, I stuck with it,” Johnson said. “I could’ve gotten a little more, but I’m good, I’m happy and I am ready to go.” The $18.355MM annual average of the new pact (which will begin next year) places him far below the likes of fellow 2019 draft classmates A.J. Brown, D.K. Metcalf, Deebo Samuel and Terry McLaurin, whose compensation ranges from $23.2MM to $25MM. More generally, it also falls short of the $20MM-per-year plateau which has become the new watermark at the position this offseason; 14 wideouts currently meet or exceed that threshold.

“You see the numbers, but I wasn’t looking at everyone’s pockets,” the 26-year-old added. “I can’t control what they got going on, so I’m just worried about what I got going on. We were able to come up with something and happy to come to the table, get something done, and I was happy we got there.”

By signing a second contract, Johnson joins rare Steelers company at the position (Hines Ward and Antonio Brown represent notable exceptions to the general rule of letting wideouts walk in free agency). With a short-term deal in place, he can move closer to his stated goal of remaining in Pittsburgh for the duration.

“I felt like it was the right decision. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side… at the end of the day I love being a Steeler. I love it here; I want to finish my career here.”

A.J. Brown, Terry McLaurin, D.K. Metcalf and Deebo Samuel have finalized extensions, spotlighting the Steelers’ situation with their contract-year wide receiver. New GM Omar Khan shed some light on those talks, but Diontae Johnson‘s “hold-in” measure is ongoing.

Each member of the aforementioned quartet is now tied to a deal worth at least $23MM per year. Brown’s $25MM AAV and $56MM fully guaranteed headline that list, but the top wideouts in Philadelphia, Washington, Seattle and San Francisco each agreed to three- or four-year deals with considerable guaranteed money. Pittsburgh’s general receiver approach differs, leaving Johnson in limbo.

Khan did indicate the team wants to re-sign Johnson, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac noted negotiations have begun (on Twitter). But given the Steelers’ past caution with second receiver contracts and 2022’s exploding market at this position, it is far from certain the former third-round pick will join his 2019 draft classmates in cashing in before the season. Indeed, Dulac adds a wide financial gap between Johnson and the Steelers exists and indicates the prospect of an extension coming together is slim.

“We don’t discuss that publicly, but we have been in conversations,” Khan said, via The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly, of Johnson extension talks. “We want Diontae and we are excited to have Diontae a part of this team. We hope he is going to be a Steeler for a long time.

“… When things happen, it adds to the conversation; let’s put it that way. It is the function of the times and the system that we are in. It is part of the process. Regardless of the position, I assume those [markets] will keep growing. As the CBA grows, the contracts grow.”

Johnson is surely targeting a deal north of $20MM annually. Although the Toledo product dropped a career-high 1,161-yard season in 2021 — a number that topped Metcalf and McLaurin’s 17-game 2021 showings — the Steelers are not believed to be eyeing Johnson at a price similar to his peers. That would point to Johnson playing out his rookie contract this season and preparing to hit the 2023 market.

The Steelers would have the option of the franchise tag, and they have extended two other 2023 walk-year players — Minkah Fitzpatrick and Chris Boswell — this summer. While the modern Steelers have only given long-term receiver extensions to Hines Ward and Antonio Brown, they have made competitive offers to wideouts in the past. Mike Wallace received a five-year offer worth $50MM before the 2012 season; he passed and signed with the Dolphins for five years and $60MM in free agency the following year. The Steelers are expected to make Johnson an offer, but if he wants to maximize his value and secure a deal in the Brown-McLaurin-Metcalf-Samuel ballpark, free agency would seemingly be a better bet than taking a Steelers deal now.

Khan plans to continue the Kevin Colbert-era policy of no in-season negotiations, giving these negotiations a firm deadline. The Steelers, as they often do, used a second-round pick on a wideout (George Pickens) and then added Calvin Austin III in Round 4 this year.