They live about 1,000 miles apart, and each remains in the midst of rehab after surgery. Oh, and there is a global pandemic affecting everything from travel to appropriate social distance.
But none of those obstacles have prevented the Pittsburgh Steelers’ franchise quarterback from working with one of his top wide receivers.
Diontae Johnson has worked out with Ben Roethlisberger over the offseason and might do so again as early as next week, the second-year receiver said during a video call with media Wednesday.
Diontae Johnson is very excited to get to catch passes from Ben Roethlisberger - something he rarely has had a chance to do yet in the pros pic.twitter.com/4QPuxJGxrF
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) May 27, 2020
“Just being able to work out with him, it’s been good,” said Johnson, who underwent sports hernia surgery in February. “Just trying to get timing down and get a feel for what he likes and what he doesn’t like and how he likes to throw the ball, certain plays, certain routes, just try to pick his brain. I might go back up there next week and work out with him again, just getting that timing down and try to get a bond with each other so we can build that trust together.”
On paper, Johnson enters the 2020 season as the Steelers’ No. 2 wide receiver behind fourth-year pro JuJu Smith-Schuster. But Johnson had more catches (59 to 44), receiving yards (680 to 552) and receiving touchdowns (five to three) than Smith-Schuster in 2019. Even taking into account that Smith-Schuster missed four games because of injury, Johnson still outpaced him in rate of catches and touchdowns.
That is even more remarkable when it is noted that Johnson entered the season as a rookie from a less-renowned school (Toledo) and did not become a starter until Week 3, while Smith-Schuster was coming off a Pro Bowl season.
"’m just staying on top of that and making sure I’m healthy so I can come back ready.”https://t.co/SMRaf4Efqy
— Joe Rutter (@tribjoerutter) May 27, 2020
Johnson said his work in the latter stages of last season — he had 23 catches and three touchdowns over the Steelers’ final four games — caught the eye of Roethlisberger, who did not play after undergoing elbow surgery Sept. 23.
“Me and Ben started talking toward the end of the season,” Johnson said. “I had to prove — to everybody — that I could play, that I was not just, like, a bust or whatever. So as the season went on I started contributing and he started seeing me making plays, he started interacting with me, talking with me more and more.”
The vast majority of Johnson’s game reps and practice time as a rookie were working off throws from backups Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges. Even when Roethlisberger was healthy and throwing during the preseason and Weeks 1-2, Johnson was farther down the depth chart (and more likely to be working with the second team) than he is now.
That makes the work with Roethlisberger now even more important.
“It’s just building trust with one another,” Johnson said. “I talk to him almost every day now. That’s my guy — we’ve got things to do this year: try to win the Super Bowl together.”
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