The Carolina Panthers are going nowhere in 2024. That gives them the leverage to trade away a veteran wide receiver they’d acquired last offseason just seven games into his Carolina career.
The Panthers will send Diontae Johnson and a sixth round pick north to the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for a fifth-rounder in the 2025 NFL Draft. It’s a deal that helps boost Carolina’s arduous rebuild with a modest draft asset and gives Lamar Jackson some extra ammunition in his effort to win his third regular season MVP award.
Johnson wasn’t remarkable in Charlotte, but almost nothing NFL related has been. Let’s break down the deal and make a rash decision about which side got the better end.
Trade: Carolina is sending wide receiver Diontae Johnson to the Baltimore Ravens, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/OwYA6YurRb
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 29, 2024
The Diontae Johnson trade details
- Ravens get: WR Diontae Johnson, 2025 sixth round pick
- Panthers get: 2025 fifth round pick
Ravens grade
Somewhere around the time Lamar Jackson bounced a third-and-long deep ball off Rashod Bateman’s facemask in Week 8, it became abundantly clear the Ravens would be buyers in a market rich with veteran wideout talent. For a low cost, Baltimore went out and got a 28-year-old target who goes from quarterbacks like Bryce Young, Kenny Pickett and Mitchell Trubisky to playing with the reigning MVP.
Johnson hasn’t been great in Carolina but still leads the Panthers in receptions (30) and receiving yards (357). His 1.76 yards per route run rank 38th among NFL wideouts, right in front of Bateman and ahead of similar trade bait like DeAndre Hopkins and Christian Kirk. While not a deep threat or a jump ball savant, he’s capable of thriving in the short or intermediate ranges to keep the chains moving — see his 52.9 percent success rate when targeted in his final season as a Pittsburgh Steeler last fall.
That means he’ll be able to take the sideline and underneath targets that demand extra help and allow guys like Zay Flowers, Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely to breathe a bit easier. He may not be a 1,000-yard threat, but he can be a proper WR2 who makes everyone’s lives easier. All it cost was a swap of around 20 picks late in next year’s draft.
Grade: A-
Panthers grade
Carolina was in a tough spot. The team has few marketable assets and the ones they do play wideout, where
a) their value has been dented by one of the league’s worst offenses, and
b) there’s a crowded market where players like Davante Adams, Amari Cooper and DeAndre Hopkins have already been dealt to needy teams.
Johnson is a pending free agent, which left him no future in Charlotte. He’s also three years removed from his lone 1,000-yard season.
In a landscape where Hopkins only brought back a fifth round pick, this was probably as well as the Panthers could do. Maybe someone would have gotten desperate as the trade deadline approached, but it’s also possible that would have left a needy team out in the cold with a bunch of veteran assets that ultimately mean nothing languishing on its roster.
So Carolina played things safe and made a sensible deal. It’s not especially exciting, but it’s a sound decision.
Grade: C+
