The Pittsburgh Steelers would have to fork up big bucks for Diontae Johnson to keep him around. Should they cave to the market or take a different route?
One of the biggest offseason moves that many Steelers fans wanted to see get done was Diontae Johnson signing an extension to keep him in Pittsburgh for the foreseeable future. The longer the team has waited, the more difficult executing this seems to be.
Early in the offseason, the wide receiver market was thrown out of wack when former Cardinals slot receiver signed a massive four-year, $72 million deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Despite never earning a 1,000-yard season and having a limited role, Kirk raked in $18 million annually on his new contract.
This was later followed by A.J. Brown being traded to the Eagles and inking a lucrative four-year, $100 million extension. At $25 million per season, Brown instantly shot himself up the ladder to become the fifth-highest-paid WR in the NFL, via Over the Cap.
The latest wide receiver to hit the jackpot is Terry McLaurin. Washington’s former third-round pick from the 2019 NFL Draft just signed a three-year extension worth up to $71 million — paying him a whopping $23.6 million annually in new money.
Now the Pittsburgh Steelers really have a dilemma on their hands. Diontae Johnson shares a lot of similarities to McLaurin. They are both young receivers from the 2019 draft class with a year remaining on their deal and have put up very similar numbers through three seasons, according to Pro Football Reference:
Terry McLaurin's stats through 3 years:
— Tommy Jaggi (@TommyJaggi) June 28, 2022
222 receptions, 3,090 yards, 16 TD
Diontae Johnson's stats through 3 years:
254 receptions, 2,754 yards, 20 TD
We may not like it, but this is what Johnson's agent is going to use when negotiating a new deal. Johnson is getting paid.
You can kiss any chance of retaining Johnson on a team-friendly deal goodbye. The wide receiver market is egregiously inflated, and the Steelers have a choice to make: they can either follow suit and overpay for a quality wide receiver or press their luck and let Johnson play out the final year of his deal.
What should the Steelers do?
Predictably, there are good and bad that come with each of these decisions. If the Steelers decide to cave to the market and pay Diontae, at least they know they will have a quality ‘X’ receiver locked up for years — an asset that could be very valuable to QB Kenny Pickett in the future.
However, Johnson is going to cost an arm and a leg. McLaurin’s deal sets the table for what Johnson is going to make, and it seems incredibly unlikely that the Steelers receiver would settle for anything less than $20 million in new annual money at this point.
Additionally, Johnson was very inconsistent over the final seven games of the 2021 season and into the playoffs — recording 7 dropped passes in this stretch alone. If he reverts back to the Diontae Johnson we saw late last year or the one who led the NFL in dropped passes in 2020 and was briefly benched, this would be a poor investment.
The other option is to allow the 2022 season to play out and see what happens. If Johnson has his best season yet, Pittsburgh could slap the franchise tag on him (which might even be cheaper than what he would earn in new money next year). If Johnson performs poorly or is very inconsistent next year, it could drive his market down during the 2023 offseason and perhaps the Steelers could get him back at a cheaper rate.
While there’s no guarantee Johnson will be with the Steelers long-term if they allow him to play out his contract this year, I think I like this option best. If the team doesn’t want to tag him or he does sign elsewhere in free agency, Pittsburgh could always use the money saved to go after a top-notch free agent like OG Quenton Nelson, CB Marcus Peters, OT Orlando Brown, S Jessie Bates, EDGE Bradley Chubb, or OT Jack Conklin.
It’s hard to say whether or not there’s a right or wrong answer here, but I think I would have a hard time being comfortable paying Diontae Johnson as much money as he is going to make. It will be interesting to see what the Steelers decide to do with a talented WR in an inflated market.