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Diontae Johnson joins one of the best teams in the league. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)
Diontae Johnson’s time in Carolina proved to be nothing more than a layover on his way to playing with an AFC contender. Just months after being traded from the Steelers to the Panthers, Johnson is heading back to the AFC North in a fifth and sixth-round pick swap with the Baltimore Ravens. That’s an extremely low-cost deal for a Ravens team that’s second in both EPA per play and success rate.
No one can blame a team as good as Baltimore for pushing their chips into the center in an attempt to reach the top of the range of outcomes, but it’s not like they were hurting for impact pass-catchers.
What Diontae Johnson brings to the Ravens
Zay Flowers is having a strong second season and they’ve just now started to unleash him on in-breaking routes, minimizing some of the Mickey Mouse screen work the Ravens overdid in Weeks 1 and 2. Rashod Bateman is finally healthy and giving them stable play at the X-receiver spot. He ranks fourth in the NFL in both EPA per target and percentage of catches to go for a first down or touchdown, per TruMedia. Mark Andrews’ season is stabilizing. He and Isaiah Likely have given this team big moments at the tight end position.
The problem for any of those guys is overall volume. None of them are going to consistently push for eight-plus targets on a weekly basis, both because of the surrounding pieces in the passing game and Baltimore’s commitment to its strong rushing attack. Adding Diontae Johnson to the mix creates an even tighter target squeeze.
There’s no question that Johnson brings a dimension to this team that none of the others provide. He’s the best pure separator against man and press coverage on the perimeter. The Ravens have seen Cover 1 at the eighth-highest rate this season, per Fantasy Points Data, so you need one-on-one man-beaters on the outside. Bateman has made good on those looks this season, hence his per-catch…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/diontae-johnson-traded-to-baltimore-ravens-fantasy-football-fallout-212629599.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-10-29 21:26:29
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