Some Cleveland Browns hoped their team would find another wide receiver with the seven picks the team utilized at the NFL Draft. Jerry Jeudy proved he could be a strong No. 1 option through the 2024 season, but his offense needs another punch in the passing game.
But they've done it another way.
A controversial way.
The Browns let Elijah Moore walk (he's with the Bills) after tallying 61 receptions and 538 yards in that campaign. Cedric Tillman, the next man up on the depth chart, had only 339 receiving yards a year ago.
Enter Diontae Johnson, who on Wednesday spoke to the media in an effort to stem a tide of negativity.
"I don't want to speak on a lot of stuff," Johnson said. "Everybody's going to have their opinions, you know what I'm saying? So at the end of the day, I'm the only one in that room that really know what's going on. They're entitled to their own opinion, so I can only go off of what I know and then try to go off what I put out there and my best effort. ...
"Last year is last year. I'm trying to change that narrative and move the right way and keep going."
The Browns in late April signed Johnson, 28, to a one-year deal worth the veteran minimum ($1.17 million) that includes no guaranteed money. Johnson said the Browns were the only team that reached out to him in free agency before he signed.
That tells a story.
Johnson's first five seasons came with the Pittsburgh Steelers (where he had 391 catches for 4,363 yards and 25 touchdowns) before he was traded to the Carolina Panthers last March. That move preceded a subsequent trade to the Baltimore Ravens after seven games.
He spent four games with the Ravens before being placed on waivers where the Houston Texans claimed him. The Browns originally brought Johnson in for a visit last week and rumors of his intentions to join the team quickly swirled.
He's bounced around the league amid behavioral concerns. Is that a "narrative''? Or an issue?
"I'm still in that form," said Johnson, a 2019 NFL Draft third-round pick who made the Pro Bowl in 2021. "It's just a matter of whenever I get my opportunities to put it on film."