Attorney: ‘Completely false’ that Steelers WR Diontae Johnson purposely skipped football camp

The agent and attorney for Diontae Johnson fired back at the company that is suing the Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver for failing to show up for an appearance hosting a youth football camp in May.

In a tersely worded statement released to NFL Network on Tuesday morning, Johnson’s agent, Brad Cicala, and attorney, Adam Kenner, wrote: “The allegations that Diontae Johnson purposely failed to appear to his scheduled youth football camp are completely false.”

Johnson’s representation called the lawsuit against Johnson “frivolous” and “nothing more than a money grab with unfounded expenses and charges.”

Johnson, who is in his fourth season with the Steelers, was booked to host a camp May 22 at Cupples Stadium on the South Side. The Connecticut-based company that was administering the camp, FlexWork Sports Management, alleges in its lawsuit that Johnson’s no-show incurred “significant costs” and created a “public relations nightmare” for the organization that runs youth football camps nationwide.

FlexWork’s suit alleges that Johnson made no effort to alter travel plans to get to Pittsburgh in time after his initial flight from Sarasota, Fla., to Pittsburgh was canceled the night before the camp.

Johnson “did not want to wait for his new flight time so he left the airport,” per the suit, and did not alert FlexWork that he would not be attending the camp until a text message 13 minutes before its scheduled start time.

Cicala and Kenner said FlexWork was responsible for “failure to facilitate (Johnson’s) timely arrival.”

“What Flexworks (sic) conveniently leaves out of this story are the countless breaches of the arrangement with Mr. Johnson,” Johnson’s representation said in its statement.

“Although the previously agreed upon requirement to handle Mr. Johnson’s travel was unfilled by FlexWorks, Mr. Johnson made his own attempts to make it to the camp. Unfortunately, those attempts were unsuccessful due to flight delays and cancellations.”

According to FlexWork, 230 players, ages 6 to 16, were registered for the camp.

FlexWork contends it had to refund $36,099.33 to campers, forfeit $14,000 it spent in preparing for the camp and had its reputation damaged in Pittsburgh, a market in which it had not previously had an event.

“The reality is supported by the company’s denial to accept Mr. Johnson’s proposal to offer a makeup camp,” the statement from Johnson’s agent and lawyer said. “Instead, FlexWorks chose to file a petty lawsuit in yet another attempt of a company seeking ‘go away’ money from a professional athlete.

“Mr. Johnson’s only ‘guilt’ in this matter is trusting FlexWorks to meet Mr. Johnson’s high operational standards while mirroring his passion for promoting football to young people in the community.”

Johnson signed a three-year, $39.5 contract earlier this month. In May when the camp was scheduled, he was in the midst of a so-called “hold in” in which he was skipping non-mandatory practices and not taking part in team drills in an apparent effort to aid in negotiating a better contract extension.

Johnson is coming off the most productive of his three NFL seasons. In 2021, he totaled 107 catches for 1,161 yards and eight touchdowns. He tied for the fifth-most catches in the NFL and had the 10th-most yards.

Johnson was not yet available for comment early Tuesday morning.

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