“Just being around my teammates and being around the atmosphere, and the energy that they show every day you want to be around a group of guys like that every day. I love it here I want to finish my career here. I was thinking about that, too, but at the end of the day I love being a Steeler. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side. “I thought like that a couple of times (like it wasn’t going to get done), but no, I prayed about it last night,” Johnson said. The only thing that changed from that point until Thursday was Johnson feeling he needed to get back on the field, and $37 million isn’t bad.
The market is up there, but God got something for me, and this was the right deal for me.”Īs recently as two days ago, reports had the chances of Johnson signing looking bleak. I am not worried about what everybody else is making. We were able to come up with something and happy to come to the table, get something done, and I was happy we got there. I can’t control what they got going on, so I’m just worried about what I got going on. “You see the numbers, but I wasn’t looking at everyone’s pockets,” Johnson said of watching other receivers get paid.
Johnson slotted in right in front of Renfrow, and he will be able to negotiate a new deal in 24 months when the cap is expected to grow significantly. Brown and Terry McLaurin also signed deals in that range, and Hunter Renfrow - a fifth-round pick of the Raiders in 2019 - got $16 million per season over two years. One thing is certain: Receivers from the 2019 draft class have cashed in big this offseason, including $24 million per year recently to D.K. It’s unknown whether Johnson is that, or whether the Steelers view him that way. Hines Ward and Antonio Brown were the exceptions, but they were also generational players. Historically, the Steelers rarely pay receivers on multiyear deals past their first contract. Just know, from a coach’s perspective, I’m glad it’s behind us and we can get focused on collective and individual development.” “I leave that to O, I know he addressed you guys regarding it. “I don’t talk a lot about negotiations and things of that nature,” Mike Tomlin said. Director of football administration Cole Marcoux also had a part in it, but this deal sets a good precedent for the organization. Here, Khan had stuck to his guns and shown he won’t be pushed around as a GM. You can say this was his first real negotiation since being named GM. Khan showed he wasn’t going to budge on market value. “I could’ve gotten a little more, but I’m good, I’m happy and I am ready to go.” “The offer they gave me, I stuck with it,” Johnson said. But the original contract was presented to him weeks ago. It’s not like Johnson caved, because he signed a two-year, $37 million extension with $27 million guaranteed and $17.5 million to sign. Khan had a market price in mind, and it was going to have to be Johnson’s decision to take it or not. Johnson had been holding himself out of practice for the better part of the week with the same offer on the table as it was prior. Khan, who replaced Kevin Colbert in late May as the team’s GM, quickly signed Minkah Fitzpatrick to a record deal and inked Chris Boswell on Monday to yet another record deal. It may have not gone down exactly like this, but it sure wasn’t far from it: Omar Khan slaps down a contract offer on a table to Steelers wide receiver Diontae Johnson and says, “This is what we will pay you.”Įven though Khan spent years doing the same thing for the Steelers, this is the first year he has the general manager title attached to his name.