Some players in the NFL had a rollercoaster of a season in 2024. Diontae Johnson was a runaway mine cart in the dark with people screaming at every turn. Johnson was cut by the Texans on Tuesday, which should end his season barring something dramatic happening.
Johnson’s downfall is something to be studied. He entered the year as the No. 1 receiver on the Carolina Panthers, believed to be integral to any success for Bryce Young in his second year — now he’s been cut by two different playoff teams, both of whom are still playing, and both who were in dire need of help at the position.
So what exactly happened to take a former 1,000 yard receiver from the Steelers and turn him into a back-of-the-roster cast off before the age of 30? The simple answer is “attitude,” but there’s more going on here too.
Problems in Pittsburgh with … everyone
There’s no doubt Johnson was a tremendous talent for the Steelers, but he also had an incredible knack to alienate himself from teammates and coaches. In the span of five years since being drafted by the team in 2019 he managed to:
Correct or not, the perception out of Pittsburgh was that Johnson was more concerned with his stats than helping the team win — and he didn’t want to hear anything from fans when they lost. The end result was the Steelers trading the difficult receiver to the Panthers, which was believed at the time to be a home run move for Carolina. A significant lack of weapons opened up a spot for him to be a true No. 1 receiver, but that didn’t work out either.
What went wrong in Carolina
Initially it all seemed like roses with the Panthers. Johnson was doing and saying the right things, coaches offered glowing praise of his play in training camp, and it seemed things were about to take a big step forward.
When actual games started to take place it was clear things were bad. Johnson was frustrated from the jump, which all receivers tend to do when the offense is bad, but this crossed the line with him getting notably angry at Bryce Young for things outside of the young QB’s control.
Johnson didn’t like how few deep throws were being called for him. He didn’t like when a QB went to their second or third option. He was visibly angry when coaches put in a package without him on the field. The experiment went bad, and after seven games the Panthers decided to trade Johnson for almost nothing, sending him and a 6th round pick to the Ravens for a 5th.
The initial reaction was that Carolina got fleeced for getting so little in return, but little did we know.
What went wrong in Balitmore
It seemed like a hand-meets-glove fit to put Diontae Johnson on the Balitmore Ravens. Not only was it poised to give Lamar Jackson the deep threat he’d been missing, but ostensibly coming from a fierce in-division rival was expected to give the Ravens information about the Steelers they didn’t have.
Much like Carolina, Johnson was immediately frustrated with his lack of snaps. The team clearly had a pecking order, and Johnson was at the back-end of it. When it finally appeared like the team wanted to begin using him more, Johnson refused to enter the game against the Eagles and was suspended one game for conduct detrimental to the team.
Johnson was released by the Ravens shortly after, making his stay in Baltimore last seven weeks. The Texans would be the next organization to step up, claiming Johnson off waivers.
What went wrong in Houston
Another landing spot that seemed to make sense. With a season ending injury to Tank Dell the Texans were in need of receiving help, and Johnson made a lot of sense.
We don’t know the full story in Houston yet, but we do know that Johnson made almost no impact during his time with the team. In the Wild Card Playoff game against the Chargers he played 16 snaps, finishing with one target for 12 yards receiving.
Curiously this came after playing almost the entire game in Week 18 vs. the Titans, when C.J. Stroud was benched for the playoffs and Johnson was relegated to playing with backups. From what we know of Johnson’s history this would not have been up to his lofty standards, and that could be one of the reasons he was released for roster space just days before a critical playoff game.
What’s next?
Someone could claim Diontae Johnson off waivers, but it’s unclear who would want the headache. He’s been a routine problem at every stop this season, and something needs to happen on a fundamental level if he hopes to get his career back on track.
If he clears waivers he’ll be an unrestricted free agent, and someone will likely take a flier on him in 2025. Whether that leads to any kind of sustained success, or it’s simply another stop in a sad decline is another story.
