When the Baltimore Ravens acquired former Pro Bowl wide receiver Diontae Johnson from the Carolina Panthers ahead of the 2024 midseason trade deadline, it was widely viewed as a low-risk-high-reward move by general manager Eric DeCosta. It took insignificant draft capital to get him and the remainder of his salary for the season was minuscule relative to his talent and potential impact.
Unfortunately, Johnson's time in Baltimore was both tumultuous and short-lived as he was suspended by the team for refusing to take the field in the second half of the Ravens' Week 13 interconference matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles for reasons that were unknown until now.
While appearing on the “Sports and Suits” podcast, Johnson opened up about what exactly he chose to go into the game when his team needed him after losing breakout starter Rashod Bateman to a minor knee injury.
“I wasn’t getting into no run plays, no passing plays or nothing. It was cold,” Johnson said. “End of the third going into the fourth, they were like, ‘Tae, we need you.’ I was like, ‘Nah, I don’t think it’s a good idea for me.’ Like, my legs are already ice cold and I didn’t wanna go out there and put bad stuff on film. It’s not like I didn’t wanna go into the game, but leading up to this point, I had been through so much. … I told them I’m not finna go in, so I just sat on the bench, and that’s when they suspended me.”
The Ravens went on to narrowly lose that game to the eventual Super Bowl champions 24-19 and were bye the following week. Johnson was suspended for their Week 15 matchup with the New York Giants and was waived a day before their second matchup of the season with one of his other former teams, the Pittsburgh Steelers who originally drafted him in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft out of Toledo. He appeared in just four games as a Raven, making one start and recording one catch for six yards on five targets.
After getting picked up by the Houston Texans for a couple of weeks to close out the regular season and open the playoffs, Johnson was waived again and surprisingly got claimed by the Ravens in what was a procedural move to potentially accrue a compensatory pick if he signed a qualifying contract in free agency.
What makes Johnson's reasoning pure lunacy is the fact that he has played his entire career except for the first half of last season in the AFC North. That won't change now that his fifth team is none other than the Cleveland Browns who play in an outdoor stadium and are known for having harsh winters.
