Steelers WR Dionate Johnson could see fewer targets in 2021

One aspect of the Pittsburgh Steelers offense I am looking forward to seeing more of this season is 12 personnel. What this means is the Steelers use one running back and two tight ends. The addition of rookie tight end Pat Freiermuth makes this possible and it will really open up the diversity of the Steelers offense.

But what 12 personnel also means is there are two wide receivers on the field. I fully understand the two receivers on the field in any given situation will be situational between the big three on the roster. Chase Claypool, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Diontae Johnson are all starting-caliber receivers and will have their moments.

Claypool is a future star in this league. He has size and speed like players such as Calvin Johnson and DK Metcalf and is the one guy on the roster who can take the top off a secondary. Smith-Schuster is a natural slot receiver and he’s also the most experienced and successful receiver on the depth chart. His relationship with Ben Roethlisberger alone buys him all the snaps he wants.

This leaves Johnson. When the Steelers drafted Johnson in 2019, he was supposed to be the replacement for Antonio Brown. Unfortunately, Johnson hasn’t lived up to the hype and the fact he led the NFL in drops last season doesn’t help his case.

Johnson’s situation is made worse by the fact of his 16 drops, 14 of them were on passes within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. Since he is basically designated as the underneath guy, if he can’t make those quick catches, he will be the easiest guy to sit down when the Steelers want to create mismatches.

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Ranking the defensive positional units in the AFC North