John Harbaugh’s Baltimore Ravens recently added another talent, Diontae Johnson, to their already-loaded roster, which includes big names like Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, and others. It was the veteran wide receiver’s second trade of the season.
Most fans and analysts see the trade as a jackpot for Johnson and the Ravens, which currently have one of the strongest offenses in the league. One former Super Bowl champion, however, does have one concern.
Jeff Saturday Gives Honest Reaction to Diontae Johnson Trade
NFL analyst Jeff Saturday pointed out red flags with the decision to get another wide receiver to the Ravens clan:
“Don’t lose your identity. Three wide receivers ain’t your identity. Make sure you keep [Patrick] Ricard playing his play. The two tight ends being in the game. If Johnson’s coming in and you want to take Bateman out, great. Let’s do that thing.”
“What you don’t want to fall into if you’re the Baltimore Ravens is trying to get into track meets. The issue for the Ravens is when they played in the AFC championship game, they dropped back 82% of the time. Their [running] backs touched it six times. You brought Derrick Henry in for a certain style of football. Stay consistent to that.”
Like Saturday’s opinion, former New England Patriots safety Devin McCourty shared his candid reaction to the trade news.
During the “Good Morning Football” show on Oct. 30, McCourty said:
“My thought process right away was is Diontae Johnson going to play cornerback for this team because when they were in their five-game winning streak, they averaged 35 points a game. They just scored 24 points against the Cleveland Browns.
“I don’t think their offense is the issue. The problem is they can’t stop anybody in the passing game on defense. Like, they’re one of the worst teams in the league in pass defense, as showed up against Sunday against Jameis Winston and the Browns.”
Nevertheless, Johnson is a great add for the Ravens. The Carolina Panthers are set to pay most of the wide receiver’s salary.
With his base salary being $7 million per year and $3.889 million due for the final 10 weeks of the season, Baltimore will owe Johnson just about $625,000 for the rest of the year.