Recognized as NFL’s best at getting open, Steelers’ Diontae Johnson explains how he does it

8/31/2023
Miles Boykin didn’t even need to hear the end of the question.
He didn’t want to hear the numbers or metrics or any “fancy stats,” either.
“I don’t need analytics to tell me that ‘Tae’ can get open,” the veteran receiver said of Pittsburgh Steelers teammate Diontae Johnson earlier this week. “I can see it with my own eyes.”
For decades, eyes were all anyone had when evaluating a pass catcher’s skill at what perhaps ranks behind only catching the ball as the most fundamental skill at their position.
Getting open.
Finally, ESPN and fivethirtyeight.com sent their numbers whizzes into the proverbial lab to find a quantitative measure for the masses to recognize who the best pass-catchers in the NFL are at certain skill sets. The collaboration examined 110 NFL wide receivers and tight ends last season in three categories: Getting open, making the catch and yards after catch.
Of the 330 combined quantitative measurements unearthed by ESPN/538 to illuminate the 110 receivers best at each of the three skills, only three perfect 99 scores were posted. And only one for “getting open.”
Johnson.
“I didn’t even know they kept track of stuff like that,” Johnson said, smiling with a combination of bemusement and pride. “I like it, though. It shows what I am putting on film, and that’s the type of receiver I want to be: just whenever the ball comes my way, I just keep making plays. I like that they did that.”
Is Diontae Johnson one of the most underrated route runners in the game? ????@Juiceup__3 | @steelers pic.twitter.com/bh0pbKXF8X
— NFL (@NFL) July 3, 2023
The brief description ESPN uses to explain its methodology is 0.2 seconds before a pass release, it assesses the likelihood a receiver would be able to complete a catch, conditional on if he were targeted.
But the explanation of how ESPN came to the conclusion that Johnson was — by far — the best in the NFL at getting open isn’t as important as what the result of the study says about Johnson.
“He’s just knows how to run routes,” said Boykin, like Johnson a five-year NFL veteran. “You can take away one thing, but he just knows how to get open. There’s so many ways. When you sit down and watch him at practice, there’s not many plays where you go, ‘Oh, he couldn’t have gotten the ball here.’ No — he’s always open. So it’s just crazy to watch him. It’s even hard for me to watch him and be like, ‘Oh let me try to do this. No. No, I can’t do what Tae does.’
“Like 90% of the league can’t do what Tae does. I think he’s the quickest receiver in the NFL. Quickness-wise, I’d take him against any receiver in the league.”
Per ESPN/538, which went back to examine data from 648 individual seasons by receivers since 2017, Johnson last season is one of only four who graded out a “perfect” 99. A.J. Brown in 2021 and Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers in 2020 are the others.
“One thing (Johnson) does very well is he always has a game plan at the line of scrimmage, and he has multiple game plans against different coverages,” second-year Steelers wide receiver Calvin Austin III said. “He has knowledge of what he wants to do in his releases and where he wants to move the defender, and he can set it up very well.
“And that’s from just his release standpoint. Then, the mid-route nuances that he adds, that’s what really makes what he does. If you study it, it’s a craft. You have to admire it as a receiver, the way he creates separation both at the line of scrimmage and (during) the routes. It’s truly a craft.”
Diontae Johnson’s route running ???? pic.twitter.com/izhPjbFMsJ
— PFF Fantasy Football (@PFF_Fantasy) November 22, 2020
Johnson’s quick feet that Boykin alluded to are a gift that, for the most part, can’t be taught.
For his part, Johnson attributes his skill at getting open “50-50” between his short-area quickness and the cerebral aspect of route-running Austin talked about.
“It’s about having a plan at the line (of scrimmage),” Johnson said. “That’s where I feel like I really do a good job at. Having two (potential) releases: a go-to, and a backup release in case he don’t react to the first one.
“Where I win at is at the top of the route. That’s where I win at, that separation. A lot of people are not as quick as me. So, I can kind of do something on the route to set him up and get him to move in a certain way that I want him to — and then, break out or whatever it is. I feel like it’s important to win at the top of the route and also when I start at the line, just having a plan.”
Johnson’s “getting open” score buoyed him to a No. 5 overall in the ESPN/538 ranking among WRs/TEs in the NFL last season. His “catch” and “yards after catch” rankings were middle of the pack, 52nd and 57th, respectively, among the 110 studied. Perhaps that’s why Johnson ranked 16th in the league last season in receptions (86), 29th in receiving yards (882) and tied for last in touchdowns (zero).
But as long as Johnson is getting open, he will always have the eye of quarterback Kenny Pickett and always be a heavily targeted receiver, particularly on third downs.
“(Johnson) is just so quick, he knows how to run routes and he’s such a smart player,” Boykin said. “That makes up one of the best receivers in the league.”
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