After his worst performance of the season against the Browns in week 13, Diontae Johnson exploded for the Steelers, scoring both touchdowns in their 23-17 win over the Cardinals on Sunday.
In a time when the offense needed a spark, Johnson brought that with six catches for 60 yards and a touchdown reception, as well as an 85-yard punt return for a touchdown. It was another bright spot in his rookie season and flashed several instances that suggest he has an X-factor to be the real deal in the NFL.
Let's take a closer look at those moments:
Johnson's punt return got the Steelers the early advantage they haven't had much of in 2019 as they've been figuring out their offense with Devlin Hodges or Mason Rudolph. It was also the longest punt return of any NFL player this season.
What's extraordinary about the play is that he didn't need much help from the Steelers' special teams unit in front of him to spring the score. They sold out with trying to block the punt and almost succeeded, but that effort left Johnson with few blockers in front of him to set up his path.
Johnson starts by breaking to the sideline, but has the vision to cut back in front of the Cardinals' formed wall. The Cardinals' special teams needed to maintain their lane next to that wall but Johnson's burst was too quick, and that got him away from their coverage team:
Not to be that guy, but that's the kind of explosiveness the Steelers used to get from Antonio Brown on returns. Johnson's limited sample size hasn't stopped him from being among the top punt returners in the NFL. He has 13 returns for 165 yards, a total that's ninth best in the league and an average of 12.7 yards per return that's the best among all players with at least five returns.
Johnson exhibited these skills in college and I showed those back when he was drafted. But as he's settled into his NFL role, Johnson's explosiveness has increased. Even when the Cardinals smothered a screen to Johnson, he broke loose from a missed tackle and cut back across the field to accelerate past defenders that even had proper pursuit angles:
Creating missed tackles is a natural skill that a player either has or they don't. It's clear that Johnson does have that X-factor in his game once the ball is in his hands. But what shouldn't be overlooked is how he works when he's running routes and cutting up cornerbacks.
According to NFL.com's Next Gen Stats, Johnson creates 3.5 yards of separation for every time he's targeted. That's the fourth best in the NFL among wide receivers and most of those targets have come on underneath routes instead of deep balls like the ones Mecole Hardman gets for the Chiefs (Hardman leads the NFL in separation yards per target with 4.5).
That means Johnson has to be doing a great job with beating cornerbacks with sharp routes. He ran several routes against the Cardinals that are both short and intermediate:
Johnson has showed advanced instincts and footwork since I first saw him in training camp. He doesn't just use his explosiveness to beat defenders with a single move, he understands how cornerbacks work and employs multiple setups to force them to honor various threats before going into his actual route.
Here he's up against Patrick Peterson where he recognizes the inside leverage and uses that against the eight-time Pro Bowl and three-time All-Pro cornerback. Watch his feet at the start of the route and how he starts working inside to force Peterson to the middle of the field. Then he straightens out his route to work vertically before using a hard jab step to break into his out route:
What's extremely impressive there is that Peterson had every reason to be aggressive against Johnson's route because safety Budda Baker was behind him in support. Even if Johnson had fooled Peterson with the out route, Peterson's selling out to cover him would've been fine with Baker providing backup.
That means Johnson beat Peterson even when he had every excuse to blanket his underneath routes. But that's where Johnson excels. He finds various ways to back off cornerbacks and create just enough space for an NFL quarterback to have a decent passing window.
That's exactly what happened on Johnson's three-yard touchdown on a comeback route against rookie Byron Murphy. Murphy was my top cornerback in the 2019 NFL Draft and went as the first pick of the second round. He's agile, aggressive, physical and an intelligent football player. But that didn't stop Johnson from getting the best of him.
Watch closely as Johnson starts by breaking inside, quickly stutter steps to work to the back corner of the end zone, then breaks to the front corner of the end zone. This is all done so quickly that even with Murphy's solid coverage, there's just enough of a window for Hodges to target with this great throw:
Johnson already displays the advanced route running skills of an experienced veteran at 23 years old. He still has to put together other aspects of his game, but that combined with his X-factor ability with the ball in his hands make him dangerous.
If this is his floor, watch out.
MORE CLASSROOM
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