PITTSBURGH — Diontae Johnson has his flaws.
The 26-year-old receiver from Toledo led the NFL in drops with 14 in 2020, and though he showed growth in that department in 2021, dropping just six balls, he came up small at some crucial moments and struggled late in the campaign, failing to eclipse the 51-yard mark in any of his last five games. (That included the playoff loss at Kansas City.)
For that reason, the three-year, $39.5 million extension he signed Thursday has been greeted coldly in some corners. The bottom-line numbers, however, suggest the Steelers got a reasonable deal in a receiver market that's getting pricier every year.
The totals are hard to argue with: 107 receptions for 1,161 yards and eight touchdowns last season.
The overall drop numbers are, too. Johnson's drop percentage of 6.7%, according to Pro Football Focus, put him ahead of some of the biggest names in the game — and even one of his own prominent teammates.
San Francisco's Deebo Samuel (12.1%), Philadelphia's A.J. Brown (11.7%), the Steelers' Chase Claypool (10.1%), Cincinnati's Ja'Marr Chase (9.4%), Minnesota's Justin Jefferson (7.7%) and Miami's Tyreek Hill (6.9%) all dropped more balls as a percentage than Johnson did.
The fact some fans and commentators have tried to argue with those numbers on reliability grounds does not change the reality of what they're worth.
Consider the Giants' Kenny Golladay, for example. The 27-year-old signed a four-year deal last March that pays an average annual value of $18 million. That's only slightly less than what Johnson makes.
For that, the Giants got 37 receptions for 521 yards and zero touchdowns in 14 games, and Golladay's Pro Football Focus grade of 68.3 ranked well behind Johnson's 74.2.
Cleveland's Amari Cooper signed a five-year, $100 million with Dallas two years ago that pays him an average of $20 million. He, too, produced noticeably less than Johnson — 68 receptions for 865 yards and eight scores. His PFF grade was a lesser 72.9.
Jacksonville's Christian Kirk signed earlier this offseason for an $18 million average. His 2021 totals: 77 catches for 982 yards, five touchdowns and a PFF grade of 72.7.
Through that lens, it's hard to look at Johnson's contract as anything other than the going rate, at worst, and realistically, it's probably on the lower end of what a receiver of his caliber could realistically ask for.
This doesn't mean having higher expectations for him is wrong. His PFF grade ranked 32nd among receivers with at least 50 targets in 2021.
His closing stretch was graded by PFF's scouts as poorly as his totals suggested it should be. Not once between the Week 14 loss at Minnesota and the playoff loss to Kansas City did he grade better than a 64 out of 100.
As No. 1 receivers go, there is some clear room for improvement. Your eyes are not deceiving you if you're one of his critics.
You just may have to recalibrate your sense of what a flawed receiver is worth, as plenty beyond Johnson are getting paid a lot of money. In that context, he's worth at least what he's making and may have even been able to command significantly more on the open market.
