Diontae Johnson Benched After Dropping Passes Again

The Pittsburgh Steelers finally made the decision to bench second-year wide receiver Diontae Johnson after dropping the ball twice.

The 24-year-old wide receiver second season has not been very good lately. Johnson has been dropping passes as he struggles to catch the ball. So far, he has dropped more than 10 passes this season. His drop percent is a high eight percent. In comparison, last season as a rookie, he only dropped six passes. He is now on pace to double that number if he continues to drop passes.

Johnson continued the trend on Sunday night against the Buffalo Bills. The Steelers opted to give him the opening play, but he dropped the ball. Pittsburgh gave him another chance when he was the target for their second drive at third down, he dropped it again.

Coach Mike Tomlin promptly benched the second-year wide receiver after he dropped his second pass. Tomlin replaced Johnson with James Washington who played the rest of the first half in place of Johnson, scoring a touchdown for the Steelers.

Shockingly, Tomlin brought the 24-year-old wide receiver back into the game during the second half. However, Johnson actually caught three passes mostly on the perimeter.

Veteran wider receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster acknowledged Johnsons’ struggles. “At the same time, you see Diontae Johnson come back,” he said. The veteran spoke about how well Johnson played during the second half and offered encouraging words saying, “he came out in the second half and made a couple of plays for us on the drive where we scored, like I said, just say positive, keep it going.”