It’s that time of year once again! Football Absurdity will bring you a breakdown of every notable fantasy football-relevant player throughout June, July, and August. We continue with the wide receivers. The Pittsburgh Steelers have to figure out if it’s Kenny Pickett or Mitchell Trubisky throwing Diontae Johnson the football, but no matter who throws the ball, it will be an improvement from 2021 Ben Roethlisberger, who redefined throwing ducks. What can we expect from Diontae Johnson in 2022 fantasy football leagues with a new quarterback in tow? Let’s take a look with his 2022 fantasy football player profile!
Diontae Johnson ADP and AAV:
Average Draft Position: WR15, 39 overall
Average Auction Value: $14.9
Diontae Johnson Statistics:
| Year | G | GS | Tgt | Rec | Yards | TD | Tgt/G | Rec/G | Rec% | Yds/Tgt | Yds/Rec |
| 2021 | 16 | 14 | 169 | 107 | 1161 | 8 | 12.07 | 6.69 | 63.3% | 6.87 | 10.85 |
| 2020 | 15 | 13 | 144 | 88 | 923 | 7 | 11.08 | 5.87 | 61.1% | 6.41 | 10.49 |
| 2019 | 16 | 12 | 92 | 59 | 680 | 5 | 5.75 | 3.69 | 64.1% | 7.39 | 11.53 |
| Year | Std Pts | HPPR Pts | PPR Pts | Pts/G | HPPR Pts/G | PPR Pts/G | Pts/Tgt | HPPR Pts/Tgt | PPR Pts/Tgt |
| 2021 | 167.4 | 220.9 | 274.4 | 10.5 | 13.8 | 17.2 | 0.99 | 1.31 | 1.62 |
| 2020 | 133.8 | 177.8 | 221.8 | 8.9 | 11.9 | 14.8 | 0.93 | 1.23 | 1.54 |
| 2019 | 104.1 | 133.6 | 163.1 | 6.5 | 8.4 | 10.2 | 1.13 | 1.45 | 1.77 |
| Year | Air Yards | aDOT | YAC | YAC/Tgt | YAC/Rec | AYMS | Tgt MS |
| 2021 | 1437 | 8.5 | 527 | 3.12 | 4.93 | 34% | 28% |
| 2020 | 1144 | 7.9 | 383 | 2.66 | 4.35 | 25% | 22% |
| 2019 | 843 | 9.2 | 305 | 3.32 | 5.17 | 21% | 18% |
2022 Diontae Johnson Fantasy Football Overview:
Here are some things that are irrevocably true: Diontae Johnson is the best wide receiver on the Pittsburgh Steelers, Ben Roethlisberger was one of (if not the worst) quarterbacks in the NFL, and no matter who starts under center for the Steelers, they will be better than Roethlisberger. Somehow, all these facts combine to mean… Diontae Johnson is a bad pick in fantasy football leagues this year? In the newest edition of “The Fantasy Football Illuminati Outthink Themselves,” the prevailing theory surrounding Diontae Johnson is that losing Ben Roethlisberger means that he won’t get as many targets, because he won’t have to just dump off to Diontae.
Okay, first of all, we all agree that the new QBs are better and that Diontae Johnson is better than Chase Claypool and the rest of the receiver corps. Yet somehow, that’s… bad? I am going to be completely honest with you: I don’t see it, at all. Johnson led the league in routes run, and was second in targets, but still managed some deep shots (thirteenth in that stat) and red zone targets (eighth in that stat). He wasn’t just a “run out a few yards, turn around, catch the ball, and fall down” guy, either. He ranked sixth in yards after the catch among wide receivers last season, with 502 of his yards coming after he caught the ball. He ranked thirtieth in yards per route run, but when you lead the league in routes, that isn’t something that is going to matter year-over-year.
Johnson feels like a classic case of the Fantasy Football Illuminati missing the forest for the trees. Yes, he had a lot of dump-offs, and yes, he might get fewer targets this year. But no, it won’t matter. He’s still very #goodatfootball, and will get a quarterback upgrade this season. Don’t tie yourself up in knots trying to talk yourself out of Diontae Johnson, you’re running uphill in the wrong direction. He’s the WR1 on a team with passing in its DNA and no contender for the WR1 throne. You don’t need to overthink this.
2022 Diontae Johnson Fantasy Football Draft Strategy:
Diontae Johnson Salary Cap Value: $13
Draft Ranking: Find out for your league settings in a Beersheet!
Thanks to the Trubisky/Pickett conundrum, and the aforementioned Illuminati talking themselves out of Diontae Johnson, he’s a screaming value in salary cap drafts ($14). Go get him there, and you can still feel good about having him, even if that cost goes up to $20. Go ahead and lean into that value in salary cap drafts. In snake drafts, the decision is a little bit tougher, but I love him at his price at WR15.
Best Case Scenario:
Pickett and Trubisky actually orchestrate a competent offense, and the Steelers’ weapons have enough to go around.
Worst Case Scenario:
Ben Roethlisberger spent the last 7 months on the TB12 diet, and he comes out of retirement lookin’ like Tom Brady. Unfortunately, he plays like Matt Cassel.
Check out all our 2022 player profiles, here.
If you would like our $7 Draft Kit, then follow this link!
Want more 2022 fantasy football draft discussion? Check out these links!
Discord!
Podcast!
Patreon!
Twitch!
[Statistics are sourced from pro-football-reference.com, airyards.com, and ftnfantasy.com]
[Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Diontae_Johnson.jpg, cropped under CC BY-SA 2.0]
