Diontae Johnson: One bad year doesn't define me
Wide receiver Diontae Johnson was let go by four teams last year, and he had only one offer this year. Johnson signed a one-year deal for the veteran minimum of $1.17 million in what might be his last chance in the NFL.
'They were the only team to hit me up,' Johnson said, via Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com.
In 2024, the Steelers traded Johnson to the Panthers, who traded him to the Ravens, who cut him. The Texans signed him and then cut him after 22 days. He caught 33 passes for 375 yards and three touchdowns in the worst season in his career.
'I don't like to speak on a lot of stuff, so I just, everybody's going to have their opinions,' Johnson said. 'At the end of the day, I'm the only one in that room that really knows what's going on. I can only go off of what I know and then try to put out my best effort. But last year is last year. I'm trying to turn and change that narrative and move the right way and just keep going.'
Johnson, 28, earned Pro Bowl honors in 2021 when he caught 107 passes for 1,161 yards and eight touchdowns. Thus, he writes off 2024 as an aberration.
'One bad year,' Johnson said. 'It's one year. I had five great seasons in Pittsburgh. I had one year, that doesn't define me as a player. None of that. My character or none of that. So like I said, everybody's going to say what they want to say about me, but I know who I am as a person deep down and that's all that matters to me.'
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