Pittsburgh Steelers CB Donte Jackson couldn’t help reading the press when they traded WR Diontae Johnson for him. Almost universally, the coverage of the move framed it as “the Carolina Panthers trade for WR Diontae Johnson.” That the Steelers got back a starting cornerback in exchange seemed to be the footnote.
In terms of headlines, that turned out to be true, but that’s mostly thanks to Diontae Johnson’s lack of professionalism. In the end, though, the Steelers and Donte Jackson clearly “won” the trade. And perhaps that’s partly because of how people initially perceived it.