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Diontae Johnson tries to resurrect his career

Well-traveled wideout a factor in Cleveland?

A story in The Athletic says that Diontae Johnson, who recently signed with Cleveland, looks like the favorite to be their slot receiver. It's not exactly a bold statement, with the competition modest, but it's hard to get overly interested in him.

For one thing, the Browns will likely be operating a run-focused offense, and starting a modest quarterback -- veteran or mid-round rookie. I've had some good things to say about Joe Flacco, but realistically they'll be starting multiple quarterbacks over the course of the season.

Is Johnson, assuming he does figure as one of the top 3 wideouts, likely to help those players be successful? He hasn't shown much the past few years, explaining why four different teams moved on from him in the past year-plus.

Back in 2021, he caught 107 passes for Pittsburgh and went to a Pro Bowl. That seems like a lifetime ago.

In three years since, Johnson has averaged just over 4 receptions per game, but his efficiency has been one of the poorest at his position in that timeframe. He's been working with modest quarterbacks, but so have a lot of wide receivers, and he's been worse than almost all of them -- both catch rate, and yards per target.

Over the past three seasons, 38 wide receivers have seen at least 250 targets. Johnson has caught just over 56 percent of the passes thrown his way. That's just a little better than a recent Brown he's replacing (Amari Cooper), and a little worse than one who Cleveland tried the past two seasons (Elijah Moore). If we sorted the below table of 250-target wide receivers by yards per target instead of catch rate, Moore is the only one he'd be better than.

WIDE RECEIVERS, 2022-2024 (250+ TARGETS)
PlayerTgtRecYdsTDPctY/Tgt
Amon-Ra St. Brown4513403,9392875.48.7
DeVonta Smith3372443,0952272.49.2
Adam Thielen3062212,3451572.27.7
Chris Godwin3342372,6231071.07.9
CeeDee Lamb4893434,3022770.18.8
Stefon Diggs3782623,1082269.38.2
Puka Nacua2661842,476969.29.3
Ja'Marr Chase4543143,9703369.28.7
Tyreek Hill4643194,4682668.89.6
Cooper Kupp2932012,2591768.67.7
Justin Jefferson4382994,4162368.310.1
Jakobi Meyers3312252,6381868.08.0
Michael Pittman4082772,8851167.97.1
Keenan Allen3602442,7391867.87.6
Tyler Lockett3132122,5271667.78.1
Nico Collins2741852,7841767.510.2
Jaylen Waddle3042053,1141467.410.2
Brandon Aiyuk2661782,7311566.910.3
A.J. Brown4002614,0312565.310.1
DJ Moore3942573,2182165.28.2
Terry McLaurin3692383,2892264.58.9
Tee Higgins2941892,5962264.38.8
Jerry Jeudy3322112,9591263.68.9
Chris Olave3011912,5651063.58.5
Christian Kirk2651682,2741263.48.6
Deebo Samuel2641672,1941263.38.3
Drake London3852413,0421562.67.9
DeAndre Hopkins3131952,3841562.37.6
Mike Evans3732303,3833061.79.1
Courtland Sutton3342042,6822061.18.0
DK Metcalf3682223,1541960.38.6
Garrett Wilson4692793,2491459.56.9
George Pickens2931742,8411259.49.7
Davante Adams4962883,7233058.17.5
Elijah Moore2711571,624457.96.0
Diontae Johnson3011701,974856.56.6
Amari Cooper3451942,9571856.28.6
Calvin Ridley2561402,0331254.77.9

The competition isn't fierce. The Browns have Jerry Jeudy and Cedric Tillman, and then Johnson need only be better than Jamari Thrash or DeAndre Carter to be among that top 3.

But it's hard to have much confidence he'll do anything with his opportunities, even assuming he gets them. Not a player I'm interested in, even if he wins that slot job.

--Andy Richardson

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