Do the Panthers Have the Secret to Unlocking Diontae Johnson's Full Potential?

A peak behind the curtains at Bryce Young's new shifty receiver.

Dec 3, 2023; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Diontae Johnson (18) / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The biggest glaring weakness of the Carolina Panthers' wide receiver room in 2023 was the inability to create separation. One trade later, they've landed one of the best receivers in the NFL at doing exactly that - getting open.

Shortly following the trade for Diontae Johnson, I reached out to Alan Saunders of Steelers Now to get some insight on why Pittsburgh felt it was the right time to move on from Johnson and to also get a better understanding of what went wrong to spark a move.

"He can be a head case, but not the typical WR type. He’s an introvert, over-thinker, always in his head. Felt like he was getting pushed aside by (George) Pickens here. He isn’t as good of a fit for the new offense as the old one.

"He will be open on literally every play. He’s the best separator in the NFL. When Ben (Roethlisberger) was here, he loved him.

"His hands are just OK, and he loses focus sometimes. He started dropping passes in 2020. Got in his head. Just kept dropping them. All year. Got even worse as the year went on. Got benched. Eventually pulled himself out if it, but it took all season. Last year at Cincinnati, he dropped a TD pass. Next play, he was so in his head about it, he didn’t block for a run or notice or react when the RB fumbled. Just stood there.

"He was on some rough offenses here. He’s not a bad guy. Actually really good dude. He’s just in his own feelings all the time.

"Diontae is quiet but a straight-shooter. Not afraid to say hard truths."

The thing that really sticks out to me is the little snippet about his feelings towards George Pickens. The two may have never had any beef, but that feeling of potentially being pushed aside or targets being reallocated elsewhere is a difficult thing to deal with.

When you look at Johnson's time in Pittsburgh, he never had a veteran receiver to look up to, study under, and work with on a daily basis. They had a bunch of guys around his age such as Chase Claypool or JuJu Smith-Schuster that he had to compete alongside and once they moved on from those two, they used a second-round pick on Pickens.

Here in Carolina, he will finally have someone who can take him under his wing and push him in a healthy way with Adam Thielen. No offense to Adam, but he's entering his age 34 season; he's not going to be doing this for much longer. Johnson is in a position where he's not going to feel pushed aside by last year's top target.

Thielen is going to be really good for Johnson. He's going to be able to work alongside one of the most sure-handed receivers in the NFL and if he can continue to sharpen that aspect of his game, combined with his ability to get open, the Panthers may be able to unlock Johnson's full potential.

"Just knowing him from afar and watching some of his games, watching some of his highlights, what really impresses me about him is his ability to separate," Thielen said in an interview with Good Morning Football last week. "He's a great route runner. Most guys are pegged as a speed guy or a great route runner guy. I feel like he's kind of got the whole bag, he can do it all. He's fast. He can separate and run all the routes. He does a great job at the top of his routes, creating seaparation and ultimately finishing. I know he had some issues earlier in his career with dropping the football but that's not what you see on tape. He makes contested catches. He makes one-handed catches. On the sideline, toe-tappers. I'm really excited to go to work with him. I was able to meet him very quickly and he kind of talked about how he's watched my game and things like that, so I''m excited to kind of learn from him and help him in any aspect that I can help him."