Diontae Johnson is indeed ‘holding in’ during Steelers training camp

Pittsburgh Steelers fans feared that Diontae Johnson would attempt to ‘hold in’ during training camp this summer. Sadly, that appears to be the case.

Since even before Diontae Johnson showed up halfway through the Pittsburgh Steelers OTAs early in June, we wondered if the team’s top receiver would consider a ‘hold-in’ during Steelers training camp this year. Shortly after the first practice kicked off on July 27th, that is practically confirmed.

Johnson was very vague when addressing the media just hours before practice. According to Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, when asked if he would be a full participant at practice, Johnson replied, “We’ll see.”

Johnson essentially implied that he would be with his comments. Just hours later, Pittsburgh’s top receiver could be seen working individually on the sidelines as fellow wide receiver went through team drills, ESPN’s Brooke Pryor confirms.

This is not totally unexpected, and it’s a decision I predicted Johnson would make months ago if he had not received a new contract by this point. But what all does this ‘hold-in’ mean for the Pittsburgh Steelers?

What Johnson’s ‘hold-in’ means for Steelers

If you were hoping that Diontae Johnson would get lots of reps in with his new quarterbacks prior to the start of the 2022 season, you may not hold your breath. While this ‘hold-in’ isn’t guaranteed to last all training camp, we have seen how a very similar situation played out last summer.

In 2021, T.J. Watt’s agent advised him to ‘hold-in’ as they worked on the contract language of his new deal. Even though we knew Pittsburgh was going to get something done with Watt eventually, the Steelers star defender missed the entire preseason and nearly all of training camp. In fact, it was Watt who eventually decided to override his agent by marching into the facility and signing his contract.

We have seen how long these scenarios can take to play out, and if Omar Khan decides not to give Johnson a contract extension or if both parties are just too far off in the contract language, Johnson might not have his first practice with the team until just before the start of the season.

This is perhaps the worst-case scenario, and it’s possible he returns to the field sooner, but what incentive does he have? Because Johnson is present at Steelers training camp, he’s not going to be fined, and the team obviously is well aware of the situation.

We would love to see Johnson get some much-needed reps with his new quarterbacks, but we might not see that anytime soon. At the very least, the veteran wide receiver should be able to avoid injuries as he works from the sideline. The question now becomes whether or not Johnson and the Steelers can agree to a new deal before training camp is over with.