We have all seen how this sort of thing plays out. Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Diontae Johnson is far from the first player to sit out voluntary workouts in hopes of leveraging a new contract. But in the case of Johnson, he really does have nothing to gain and everything to lose.
Steelers writer Mark Kaboly has already put it out there that Johnson is unhappy that he doesn’t have a contract extension yet. Johnson is heading into the final year of his rookie contract and doesn’t want to go into the 2022 regular season without that financial security.
But several factors don’t really work in his favor. One is the market. A single big season doesn’t get you the kind of money we’ve seen free-agent wide receivers get this offseason. Not with the Steelers, anyway. Johnson was very good in 2021 with 107 catches for 1,161 yards. But it’s no reach to assume his perception of his value within the wide receiver market is very different from that of the Pittsburgh front office.
The other big factor is the roster. Pittsburgh had multiple needs at wide receiver and was aggressive in filling them via the NFL draft. George Pickens is already impressing at OTAs and Calvin Austin is an amazing athlete with game-breaking speed. Every day that Johnson isn’t working out with his new quarterbacks on this new offense, he’s losing ground to these talented youngsters.
