Diontae Johnson wasn’t the most popular draft pick in the Steelers 2019 class. After the Steelers moved up in the draft to select an elite athlete from a top 5 conference school at a position the fans wanted a draft pick, Steeler Nation was largely excited. When the Steelers used their next pick on a small, un-hyped receiver from Toledo, the reaction was different.
But fans got on board during the 2019 season, with Ben Roethlisberger out for the season, free-agent Donte Moncrief unable to catch a football and JuJu Smith-Schuster missing time and playing hurt, Johnson ended up leading the team in targets, receptions and receiving touchdowns, and was the most consistently productive player on the Steelers offense.