Former Steelers WR Skips Browns OTAs

Former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Diontae Johnson has made headlines once again as he decided to skip out on OTAs with his new team in the Cleveland Browns.



After a confounding season in 2024, where Johnson spent time with two different teams that both seemed uninterested in his services, Johnson has begun yet another season of confusion by skipping OTAs with his new team.



Johnson was dealt to the Panthers following the 2023 season and the Pittsburgh Steelers received star defensive back Donte Jackson in return. In what initially was seen by many as a lopsided deal in the favor of the Panthers, the Steelers leader in interceptions turned out to be Jackson while the Johnson experiment in Carolina was mostly unsuccessful.



Johnson has taken a decent fall from his peaks at the beginning of his career, in which he was named a 2019 second team All-Pro honoree for his elite play as a Steelers wide receiver that season.



According to Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, Johnson was not a participant at OTAs for the Browns at the beginning of the practices.



Johnson spent the first part of the 2024 season with the Carolina Panthers before joining the Baltimore Ravens in October along with a sixth round pick for a 5th round pick, both of which for the 2025 NFL Draft. On December 4th of 2024, he would get suspended for conduct deemed “detrimental to the team” before receiving his release on December 20.



Despite it being an optional practice, the wideout has a lot to prove both on and off the field for the coming season, and missing a practice is not an ideal start to that. Johnson has a decent chance of making the roster on a Browns team that has significant depth issues when it comes to receiving, but the effort will have to be there first.