Ravens suspend Diontae Johnson for refusing to play vs. Eagles
The Ravens’ Diontae Johnson saga has taken an ugly turn.
Baltimore suspended the wide receiver for its next game against the Giants on Dec. 15 after he refused to enter Sunday’s loss against the Eagles, the team announced.
“We have made the difficult decision to suspend Diontae Johnson for our upcoming game against the New York Giants for conduct detrimental to the team,” Ravens GM Eric DeCosta said in a release. “Diontae’s suspension stems from refusing to enter our game against the Philadelphia Eagles.”
Eyebrows were raised Sunday when Johnson did not play despite an mid-game injury to fellow wide receiver Rashod Bateman.
Head coach John Harbaugh was cryptic about Johnson’s lack of playing time.
“I’m not really ready to comment on that right now,” Harbaugh said after the loss. “I will be, just don’t have enough information right now to talk about that.”
Harbaugh kept Johnson’s status a mystery on Monday, ostensibly because the team was deciding how it wanted to punish the receiver.
“I’m going to have to wait, just to clarify — there’s some moving parts there that we’re going to have to figure out and explore and just see where we’re at,” Harbaugh said Monday.
The suspension is the latest twist in what has been a bizarre month-plus for Johnson with the Ravens, who acquired him and a 2025 sixth-round pick from the Panthers for a 2025 fifth-rounder on Oct. 29.
Johnson, 28, was not targeted in his Ravens debut, caught one pass for 6 yards in his second game and has not caught a pass since.
He played limited snaps in his third and fourth games with the team.
After spending his first five seasons with the Steelers, he was traded to Carolina in March.
In seven games with the Panthers, Johnson had 30 catches for 357 yards and three touchdowns.
Johnson had 4,363 yards and 25 touchdowns with the Steelers, which included a Pro Bowl 2021 campaign when he registered career-highs of 107 catches, 1,161 yards and eight touchdowns.