The Carolina Panthers agreed to trade receiver Diontae Johnson and a sixth-round pick to the Baltimore Ravens on Tuesday in exchange for a fifth-round pick.

I’m happy for Johnson. This is a good wide-out who has never gotten a fair shake in the NFL. We’re talking about a guy who was a third-round pick by the Steelers in the 2019 NFL Draft that came to the team just as the Killer Bs era ended.  Running back Le’Veon Bell was gone after 2017, while receiver Antonio Brown, the best in the business, had burned every bridge on the way out of Pittsburgh following the 2018 campaign. But at least the rookie Johnson would still have Ben Roethlisberger, a bona fide franchise quarterback who led the NFL in passing in 2018, right? Wrong. Roethlisberger suffered a season-ending elbow injury in Week 2 of the 2019 season, and Johnson was left to catch passes from quarterbacks like Mason Rudolph and Devlin “Duck” Hodges. Still, Johnson had a decent rookie season while playing in a severely limited offense, catching 59 passes for 680 yards and five touchdowns. It was said that Johnson was a poor man’s AB, and you could see that right away with his size, shiftiness and route-running ability.

Roethlisberger returned for the COVID-compromised 2020 season, and Johnson had a breakout year with 88 receptions for 923 yards and seven touchdowns. The following season was Johnson’s best yet, as he tallied 107 receptions for 1,161 yards and eight touchdowns. He even made his first-ever Pro Bowl. Things were looking up for Johnson. Unfortunately, the receiver’s best year was Roethlisberger’s last in the NFL.

Following Roethlisberger’s retirement, the Steelers signed veteran Mitch Trubisky and drafted Kenny Pickett. In the meantime, Johnson, entering the final year of his rookie deal,  was seeking a contract extension and “held in” during the 2022 training camp until he and the team finally agreed to a two-year extension that averaged just over $18 million a season. 

Johnson’s hold-in, along with his growing (and a little unfair) reputation for dropping passes, had angered and frustrated fans.

How would Johnson respond to his new contract and life without Roethlisberger? Just okay, which was more than you could say for Pittsburgh’s offense under second-year offensive coordinator Matt Canada. The Steelers averaged 18.1 yards per game in 2022, finished 24th in passing yards and were dead last in touchdown passes with just 12. Johnson, who somehow managed to catch 86 passes for 882 yards, had zero.

Things weren’t much better for Johnson a year ago, and they were even worse for the offense with Canada still in charge of it. The unit averaged 16.5 points per game through the first 10 weeks of the season and hadn’t had a 400-yard performance since Canada was promoted to OC prior to the 2021 campaign. Yeah, it was pretty bad.

Rumors began to surface that Johnson was growing increasingly more frustrated with the offense, and those frustrations appeared to bubble over in a game against the Bengals on November 26. Sure, Canada had been relieved of his duties and, sure, the offense finally eclipsed the 400-yard mark in a 16-10 win, but all anyone could talk about after the game was a Jaylen Warren fumble that Johnson didn’t notice and instead walked off the field while Cincinnati recovered it.

To say it was a lost year for Johnson is an understatement, as he caught just 51 passes for 717 yards. But at least he ended his touchdown drought in a game against the Titans on Thursday Night Football. He actually wound up with five for the year and came alive a bit at the end of the season with Rudolph back as the “hot hand” starting quarterback.

But whatever bridges Johnson set fire to during the season collapsed, and he was traded to the Panthers in the spring in exchange for cornerback Donte Jackson. In other words, general manager Omar Khan shipped Johnson to the current Siberia of the NFL, a franchise with a quarterback situation worse than the one in Pittsburgh.

Somehow, Johnson managed to catch 30 passes for 357 yards and three touchdowns from Bryce Young and/or Andy Dalton before mercifully being traded to Baltimore on Tuesday.

Now, Johnson will be playing in the most explosive offense in the NFL in 2024, one that is averaging 452 yards per game and 30.3 points. Johnson will be part of an arsenal that includes running back Derrick Henry; receivers Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman; and tight ends Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely.

Most importantly, Johnson will be catching passes from Lamar Jackson, a bona fide franchise quarterback who has already won two NFL MVP awards and is angling for a third in 2024.

My guess is Johnson will thrive in Baltimore’s offense. He will finally reach his full potential. No, he was never going to be the best receiver in the NFL, but he should have been much better than he was during his career in Pittsburgh–even if he still managed to produce despite coordinators and game plays that were atrocious for the better part of his five years with the Steelers.

Maybe I’m wrong, but Johnson seems like a good guy who grew disgruntled and bitter during his first five seasons in the NFL. The reasons were work-related, which is something most NFL fans can relate to.

We haven’t seen the best of Diontae Johnson just yet, but we should now that he is in a healthy work environment designed to help him thrive as an NFL receiver.