LATROBE, Pa. -- Don't believe for a second that Omar Khan was simply paying lip service to the Steelers being in contact with the agent for wide receiver Diontae Johnson on a contract extension.
Things are serious enough that Johnson's agent, Brad Cicala, was here on campus Tuesday as the Steelers completed their second day of padded practices here at Saint Vincent College.
Now, things aren't necessarily imminent. When you're talking about a deal such as this, it takes time. And after just completing Chris Boswell's long-term extension Monday, the Steelers can now move on to seeing if they can work something out with Johnson.
"We want Diontae. We’re excited to have Diontae as part of this team," Khan said. "We hope he’s going to be a Steeler for a long time."
That flies in the face of what many fans seem to want. They want Johnson to play out his rookie deal at $2.7 million. There's even been talk from fans of wanting him traded if he's unhappy with doing that.
Here's the thing. Johnson has seen Terry McLaurin, Deebo Samuel, DK Metcalf and A.J. Brown all get new deals this offseason -- all north of $20 million per season.
Those guys are all good. So is Johnson.
Those players all are also, like Johnson, guys who were chosen after the first round in the 2019 NFL Draft.
Here's the thing. Johnson has more catches than all of them in his career with 254, 32 more than the next closest player, McLaurin. He's fourth among receivers taken in that draft with 2,764. That's more than Samuel, Marquise Brown, the first receiver taken in that draft, and Hunter Renfrow, who also got paid this offseason, getting a two-year extension worth $32 million. His 20 touchdown catches are more than McLaurin, Samuel and Renfrow, as well.
Johnson has been an All-Pro as a return man. He's been to a Pro Bowl, as well. And remember, he played his rookie season with Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges at quarterback.
What's that worth?
Well, nobody's talking about total numbers, but it's worth more than the $16 million Renfrow got from the Raiders. But it is worth the three-year, $71-million extension that McLaurin got and Samuel, Metcalf and Brown all have eclipsed?
McLaurin's $22.8 million per year average seems justifiable. And given that the league's salary cap is likely to hit $250 million -- up from its current $208.2 million level now -- before a three-year extension for Johnson would be up, that seems like a number both teams might be able to agree upon.
"It’s part of the process. Regardless of the position, I assume those things are going to keep growing. As the CBA grows, contracts will grow," Khan admitted.
Much has been made about the Steelers having the lowest-paid offense in the NFL. Much of that has been because they're not paying their quarterbacks big money any longer and most of the offense is still working on rookie contracts.
Johnson has put in the work. He's the only wide receiver on this roster who has consistently proven he's capable of getting off press coverage -- a real skill in this league.
He's worth the money. And with the other top receivers signing two- and three-year deals, if he's not after a couple of seasons, it's easy to move on.
• The other thing fans need to realize is that just because the Steelers have had success drafting wide receivers in the past, doesn't mean that's going to continue.
Receivers went very early in the 2022 NFL Draft. Ten went in this year's draft before the Steelers selected George Pickens in the middle of the second round.
Pickens looks like a keeper to be sure, but Johnson was the 10th wide receiver taken in his draft. And he went with the second pick in the third round. Chase Claypool was the 11th wide receiver taken in 2020, and he went in the middle of the second round, as well.
Teams are taking wide receivers earlier and earlier in the draft. And just because you've had success doing it in the past, doesn't mean you should count on continuing to do that. At some point, it makes sense to keep a good player.
Certainly they could just take a wide receiver in the second or third round each year. But that then means they can't use those picks on another position.
Then there is this. The contract status of Johnson lines up well with that of Pickens. Pickens has four years remaining on the deal he just signed this spring. If he's the star everyone thinks he might be, when Johnson's contract is up, it would then be time to pay Pickens.
And if Johnson leaves, are fans ready for Claypool to be the leader of the wide receiver room? I like Claypool. I think fans might be a little rough on him for some of the things that happened last season -- some, not all -- but I'm not ready to turn that room over to him.
• After kind of a dud practice on Monday for the team's first day in pads, the intensity was ramped up a little bit for this one.
Cam Heyward went after Benny Snell after one team run play. Right after that, T.J. Watt made a point to step over Calvin Austin III after dropping him for a loss on a jet sweep, causing Austin to get up and go after Watt.
Then, in one-on-one blocking drills, DeMarvin Leal and John Leglue went after each other after Mike Tomlin paired them up multiple times.
That intensity seems to be what Tomlin wanted.
"I was really pleased with today’s work. The competition and the level of urgency were improved," Tomlin said. "I think that’s just a natural thing, with it being the second day in pads. The guys, particularly the new guys, are getting accustomed to the things that we do culturally and the nature in which we compete under those conditions. Really exciting."
• Austin trying to take on Watt is probably not his smartest move. But you have to like the diminutive receiver's competitiveness.
He later got free on a deep ball from Rudolph off play-action that was the best play of the day.
Pickens is getting a lot of the attention, but Austin should be useful, as well.
• Brian Flores didn't get what he wanted in the suspension of Dolphins owner Stephen Ross for tampering with former Saints head coach Sean Payton and quarterback Tom Brady, but the league did admit Flores did an excellent job with Miami.
While saying it found no evidence Ross had offered incentives for tanking in 2019, it said that Ross did prioritize losing in order to get a higher draft pick. Flores, the league said.
"The comments made by Mr. Ross did not affect Coach Flores’ commitment to win and the Dolphins competed to win every game," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. "Coach Flores is to be commended for not allowing any comment about the relative importance of draft position to affect his commitment to win throughout the season."
Now, maybe the league is just blowing smoke because Flores still has a discriminatory hiring practices lawsuit pending against the league, but that's a big admission.
For his part, Flores wasn't happy with the ruling.
"I am thankful that the NFL’s investigator found my factual allegations against Stephen Ross are true,” Flores said in a statement released by his lawyers. “At the same time, I am disappointed to learn that the investigator minimized Mr. Ross’s offers and pressure to tank games, especially when I wrote and submitted a letter at the time to Dolphins executives documenting my serious concerns regarding this subject at the time, which the investigator has in her possession. While the investigator found that the Dolphins had engaged in impermissible tampering of ‘unprecedented scope and severity,’ Mr. Ross will avoid any meaningful consequence. There is nothing more important when it comes to the game of football itself than the integrity of the game. When the integrity of the game is called into question, fans suffer, and football suffers."
Ross didn't skip out on all penalties. He was fined $1.5 million and banned from being around the team for the first six games of this season. He also can't take part in league meetings until next March, while the Dolphins were docked a 2023 first-round draft pick and a third-round selection in 2024.
• This running back group might be better than many are giving it credit for being.
Snell has looked better in this camp and has showed off improved hands in the passing game. Anthony McFarland looks good in space as a receiver, which is how the team wants to use him. And he took a pitch from Kenny Pickett Tuesday and hit the run straight upfield, not dancing as he had done earlier in his career.
But the real surprise has been rookie Jaylen Warren. He showed up in backs on backers on Monday. Tuesday, with both Najee Harris and Jeremy McNichols sitting out with a foot and shoulder injury, respectively, Warren showed some skills as a receiver and some juice as a runner. He makes nice, decisive cuts and runs hard.
Warren is clearly ahead of fellow rookie Mataeo Durant in the pecking order.
"He appears to be highly conditioned," Tomlin said of the former Oklahoma State star. "I think it starts there for a young guy. We always say one man’s misfortune is another man’s opportunity, and there are some short lines for running back. But if you’re not highly conditioned, you’re not positioning yourself to take advantage of it, so kudos to him for coming ready."
• Likewise, Ulysees Gilbert showed up in Tuesday's backs on backers coverage drills. The drill favors the offense perhaps even more so than the blocking drills do. And Gilbert held up against whoever he was working against.
He also had a nice play sniffing out a screen later in practice. Gilbert is getting even more work with Marcus Allen out with an injury.
I thought coming into this camp the Steelers might only be able to keep one of those special teams aces. Right now, it's advantage Gilbert, which is ironic considering he was held back by injuries in his first two seasons.
But now in his fourth season, this is a big year for Gilbert.
• Pickens is a very willing blocker, something that showed up today in one-on-one blocking drills against the defensive backs. He had strong reps against both Cam Sutton and Ahkello Witherspoon.
• I'm not one of those who are overly concerned about Mitch Trubisky's struggles against the first-team defense.
With essentially every experienced weapon missing, it's not going to look pretty for Trubisky. No matter how good some of the other guys look -- including Pickens -- there's still a lot of inexperience there. And you don't often see teams using their third, fourth, fifth and sixth receivers on the field together against the opposing team's No. 1 defense, let alone with their No. 2 tight end and running back, as well.
• Leal is starting to show up a little bit. The Steelers' third-round draft pick blew up an inside handoff and looked pretty good in one-on-ones, as well.
You can definitely see the talent there for the rookie.
It will be interesting to see how he's mixed in when Tyson Alualu and Larry Ogunjobi return, which is expected soon. So too, is the return of Minkah Fitzpatrick.
