5 talented Steelers who are not yet deserving of Pro Bowl honors
By Tommy Jaggi
The Pittsburgh Steelers should have a few Pro Bowl locks this season, but these five talented, young players aren’t quite deserving just yet.
Every year, the Pittsburgh Steelers have a handful of representatives in the NFL Pro Bowl. Most of the time, these players have fought diligently all season to be deserving of such an honor. However, that’s not always the case.
Fans make up one-third of the votes for the Pro Bowl, and some players get in based on popularity. For instance, I certainly did not think Maurkice Pouncey was deserving of the Pro Bowl each of the past two seasons, but he was voted in regardless.
The Steelers have some young, talented football players — most of which I expect to make the Pro Bowl someday. However, here’s why these five aren’t quite deserving of this honor just yet:
Steelers WR Diontae Johnson
Diontae Johnson is having by far the best season of his professional career. After leading the NFL in dropped passes in 2020, I don’t know if anyone could have expected him to clean up his game as well as he has. Johnson let the ball slip through his hands a whopping 13 times last season, but Pro Football Reference hasn’t credited him with a single drop so far this year.
Unfortunately, there should be more required out of a Pro Bowl player than simply hanging onto the football. While I think that Johnson has been excellent in his role with the Steelers this year, there are still 7 AFC receivers who have earned more receiving yards and 26 total players who have scored more touchdowns.
In addition, Johnson has averaged a very modest 12.1 yards per reception and has only caught 62.1 percent of his targets despite averaging just 6.6 yards before the reception. With AFC receivers like Ja’Marr Chase, Tyreke Hill, Keenan Allen, Stefon Diggs, and Michael Pittman all having very good seasons, I think Johnson should be just outside of this group.