Ravens Coach Just Proved Panthers Won Diontae Johnson Trade

The Carolina Panthers caught a ton of flack from fans around the league when they traded Diontae Johnson to the Baltimore Ravens. It was immediately and unanimously decided that the Ravens had fleeced the Panthers. That the deal was obviously one-sided and that the Panthers' front office must be full of rubes. And of course, when NFL fans unanimously decide they know much more than any front office, they're always correct. RIght?

Well it might surprise you to learn even the struggling Carolina Panthers front office might know a little more than people desperate to dunk on NFL teams for social media clout.

The Ravens, obviously the team who was willing to pay the most for Johnson, have thrown the ball to him twice in his first two games, getting a whopping 6 yards on those looks. He's only even played 22 snaps combined. And now offensive coordinator Todd Monken has spoken out about why Johnson's not getting involved. The short answer is that the players they have are better than Johnson, and he's really just there in case they get hurt.

Johnson isn't competing with Ravens top wideouts Zay Flowers or Rashod Bateman for snaps. Heck, he's not even really competing with Nelson Agholor, who out-snapped him 31 to 5 in the last game. Johnson is competing with Tylan Wallace, a special teamer who out-snapped him 12 to 5 in Week 10. If you haven't heard of Wallace, I don't blame you. He's a four-year journeyman who has caught a career 12 passes in 47 games played for Baltimore.

So that's the caliber of player Johnson is struggling to see the field ahead of. Even if we completely ignore any of the rumors around Johnson causing locker room issues, suddenly "literally anything at all" is actually looking like a pretty good return in that trade.

The Panthers offense has done plenty of things to be critical of, no doubt. They deserve to be under a microscope right now during a pivotal point in a potential rebuild. But being critical and indiscriminately heaping criticism on every move they make are two very different things.

Here we have it straight from the horse's mouth in Baltimore — Diontae Johnson is not worth much to any NFL offense.

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