Needing a wide receiver to make up for the loss of All-Pro Antonio Brown, the Pittsburgh Steelers selected Toledo wide receiver Diontae Johnson on Friday night with their first pick of the third round.

The pick was No. 66 overall in the draft.

Johnson, a 5-foot-10, 183-pound receiver who doubled as a punt and kickoff returner, was one of the prospects to make a top-30 visit to the Steelers in the predraft process.

“I felt like I was already on the team when I stepped in the building,” Johnson said.

Steelers wide receivers coach Darryl Drake felt the same way. He met with Johnson two weeks ago at UMPC Rooney Sports Complex and also had dinner with Johnson prior to Toledo’s pro day. They also spoke at the NFL Combine in March.

“I basically fell in love with him after spending time with him and dining with him and talking to him and seeing his passion for the game, his passion for wanting to be great and his passion for his teammates,” Drake said.

It was the third consecutive year that the Steelers took a wide receiver with their first pick on the second day of the draft, following JuJu Smith-Schuster in 2017 and James Washington in 2018.

Johnson thought he might go late in the third round or early in the fourth.

“I got cussed out by the Tampa Bay head coach who called me some names for taking him,” Drake said. “That was his guy (four picks later). We all talk. That was the one guy that everybody talked about. He was the one guy … there was not one guy and there were a lot that I talked to, who did not like this guy.”

Johnson said he expects to be used in the slot, although he said he could play in the outside.

Asked what are his best attributes, Johnson said, “Winning at the line of scrimmage, catching the ball. I can run any route in the route tree.”

Johnson led Toledo with 49 catches for 761 yards and eight touchdowns in 2018. He also averaged 18.5 yards on 13 punt returns and 25.8 yards on 16 kickoff returns.

“He checked all the boxes,” Drake said.

Drake particularly was impressed with what Johnson does at the line of scrimmage by creating separation from cornerbacks and safeties.

“DBs walk up in your face and try to fingerprint you and he’s very elusive at the line of scrimmage,” Drake said. “You need a guy who gets off bump. He gets off bump.”

At the NFL Combine, he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.53 seconds, which was slower than some of the higher-rated wide receivers in his class.

“I know I’m faster than what I ran at the combine,” he said. “Once I put on the pads and get the ball in my hands, I’m way faster than I ran in the 40-yard dash. I can play football. I’ve got football speed.”

Unlike the first day, when the Steelers moved up 10 spots to get linebacker Devin Bush with the No. 10 overall pick, they did not trade up into the second round.

Holding that second pick of the third round, the Steelers entered the day hoping to land some help in the secondary and wide receiver.

Pass catchers that went in the second round were Deebo Samuel, A.J. Brown, Mecole Hardman, J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, Parris Campbell, Andy Isabella and D.K. Metcalf.

Six cornerbacks were gobbled up among the first 14 picks of the second round.

The run on cornerbacks began with the first pick of the second round when Arizona took Byron Murphy. Rock Ya-Sin, another corner on the Steelers’ radar, went next to Indianapolis. Sean Bunting and Trayvon Mullen went back-to-back at Nos. 39-40 overall to Tampa Bay and Oakland, respectively. Joejuan Williams went No. 45 to New England, and the Cleveland Brown ended Greedy Williams’ slide with the following pick.

Lonnie Johnson became the seventh cornerback taken in the round when he went No. 54 to Houston.

Safeties Marquise Blair, Nasir Adderley, Taylor Rapp and Juan Thornhill were gone by the time it was the Steelers’ turn. Adderley, Rapp and Thornhill went in a four-pick span late in the second round.

The No. 52 overall pick that the Steelers sent to the Denver Broncos on Thursday to get Bush was traded to Cincinnati, and the Bengals used it to take Washington tight end Drew Sample.

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