Steelers WR Suffers Foot Injury vs. Panthers

Before sustaining his ailment, Johnson logged five snaps for the Steelers and did not record a catch. He previously played 37 snaps against both the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tampa Bay Buccaneers this preseason, according to Pro Football Focus, hauling in a total of five passes for 28 yards with a touchdown.

The 27-year-old was listed as a fourth-stringer on Pittsburgh's most recent depth chart and is one of nine receivers remaining on the team's roster before the 53-man deadline on August 26.

Receivers coach Zach Azzanni, who coached Johnson at the University of Tennessee and with the Denver Broncos before reuniting with him in Pittsburgh, had plenty of good things to say about the fourth-year pro earlier in the offseason.

“I don’t overlook him because this is the third place I’ve coached him,” Azzanni said. “I recruited him to Tennessee, I got him to Denver, he did the rest there. Helped get him here, thank God they listened to me and brought him here, because he’s a sneaky good player. I’m really excited about where he’s at, he can help us. I’m able to coach him hard, he’s our type of player."

Johnson appeared in seven games for the Broncos as an undrafted rookie in 2022, posting six catches for 42 yards and a touchdown over that stretch. He then logged 284 yards and four touchdowns on 19 catches for Denver in 2023, though the team would release him at final roster cuts in August 2024.

Pittsburgh went on to sign Johnson to its practice squad where he'd remain for the majority of the campaign. He was elevated for the maximum of three regular season games, however, and hauled in a single pass for nine yards over 19 total snaps.

The Steelers re-signed Johnson to a reserve/futures contract in January.