PITTSBURGH — Diontae Johnson is playing a game of chicken with the Steelers, hoping his decision to not take part in team drills at training camp will result in a new contract before the start of the regular season. He saw what happened last year when outside linebacker T.J. Watt did the same thing and received the largest contract ever awarded in franchise history. He thinks the same thing will happen with him.
He could be dead wrong.
Johnson's actions are what is known as false causality — an assumption that one event causes the other. In this instance, it might also be known as a mistake.
To be clear, Johnson deserves a new contract. He has been the team's most productive receiver the past two seasons, with 195 receptions, 2,084 yards and 15 touchdowns. He is in the fourth and final year of his rookie contract and will earn nearly $2.8 million in 2022, a nominal amount for a player who is the most productive on the team at his position, especially at a position where 22 NFL receivers average at least $15 million per season.
But, unlike Watt, Johnson is not the best player at his position in the league. He isn't even among the best. He is not a four-time Pro Bowler, three-time first team All-Pro selection or the league's player of the year.
The Steelers had been preparing for at least one year, nearly two, to pay Watt. That's why they couldn't give Bud Dupree a new contract when he became an unrestricted free agent after the 2019 season. Even Dupree knew that.
Plus, the decision for Watt to not participate in team drills during training camp last summer was pretty much by mutual agreement. The Steelers were as much on board with him not practicing as the two-time NFL sack leader himself. After all, if they were going to make Watt the richest player in franchise history, they didn't want to see him get hurt before they even opened the bank vault.
The situation is not the same with Johnson.
The Steelers have not started discussing a new contract for their third-year wide receiver. Right now, it is more likely they will begin conversations with kicker Chris Boswell on an extension before they get to Johnson — if they get to Johnson this summer.
They have already doled out one monster contract this offseason — making safety Minkah Fitzpatrick the highest-paid player in the league at his position. It is not likely they will hand out another. They are not the LIV Golf tour, after all.
If they wanted, the Steelers could discipline Johnson for electing not to practice. But they haven't so far, and it is unlikely they will, mainly because they want to maintain some sort of professional civility with a player who has been nothing but hard-working and productive — and probably because they already set a precedent with Watt.
In that regard, that might be the only similarity between the two circumstances.
Harris pushed into leadership role
The Army has always trained its service members to be leaders, believing leadership skills were attained through development and practice. Just because someone had rank and authority did not make them an effective leader.
The Steelers have taken the process a step further. They believe they can anoint their leaders, just like they appoint a captain.
The chosen one in this instance is running back Najee Harris, who enters his second season with the team at the tender age of 24. He is being tabbed (pushed?) for the role of leader by coach Mike Tomlin and even defensive captain Cam Heyward, each of whom believe Harris possesses the necessary qualities to be a leader.
"It's just him. It's in his personality," Tomlin said. "I imagine he's been that on every team he's ever been on in his lifetime. It is a natural act for him. It's just something that you recognize and you cultivate."
Over the past three seasons, the Steelers have lost several offensive players who were considered leaders, including center Maurkice Pouncey and, most recently, Ben Roethlisberger. After starting four rookies in 2021, the offense will have two new starters on the line, two rookies among the top four receivers and a new quarterback.
An offense with that much metamorphosis doesn't have time for a leader to evolve. Presumably, the only option is to appoint them — like Harris.
"He doesn't have to do anything but be himself," Tomlin said. "I think that's an important component of leadership. I don't ask people to be something that they're not. It is naturally in his wheelhouse. It is something that just oozes off of him. It's just about he and us cultivating that and using that for our collective good."
