The Ravens were happy when they landed Diontae Johnson at the trade deadline, but the veteran wide receiver is not expected to step into a major role in Baltimore’s offense this season.
Johnson’s acquisition was more about value, versatility, and depth. The Ravens only had to give up a fifth-round pick for Johnson and a sixth-round pick from the Panthers, with Carolina eating most of the wideout’s remaining salary. Based on current draft pick projections, Baltimore essentially moved back about 20 spots in the 2025 draft to add Johnson to their roster, a pittance for a receiver with a career average of 54.3 yards per game.
The Ravens believed that Johnson was “too good a player to pass up” for such a low price, though they did not make the trade expecting Johnson to immediately slide into a starting role, according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano. Instead, he provides veteran depth as insurance for injuries to Zay Flowers or Rashod Bateman while giving the Ravens “a chance to use more three-receiver sets than they usually do, should they want to go that route.”
Flowers and Bateman have been firmly entrenched as Baltimore’s starting wideouts this year with a healthy dose of heavy personnel looks on offense with fullback Patrick Ricard and tight ends Mark Andrews, Isaiah Likely, and Charlie Kolar. Johnson’s main path to more playing time is obvious passing downs that require three receivers, though the Ravens rely on their league-leading rushing attack with Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry to keep them out of such situations.
Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken hinted at the difficulty of working Johnson into the offense.
“It’s not easy for him,” said Monken. “We’re going to continue to try to find ways to get him on the field, but we haven’t really lost anybody, we’re doing pretty good with the guys we’ve got.”
Monken has a point: Baltimore leads the NFL with 4,731 yards and 7.0 yards per play this season, with significant gaps between them and the second-ranked teams. Johnson still has the talent to contribute, but the Ravens won’t go away from what’s worked this season.