Diontae Johnson is headed back to the AFC North.
The Baltimore Ravens are acquiring the wide receiver in a trade with the Carolina Panthers, NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo reported Tuesday, per sources informed of the situation.
The Ravens later officially announced they had traded for Johnson.
The trade is a pick-swap, with Baltimore sending a 2025 fifth-round pick to Carolina for Johnson and a sixth-rounder, per Rapoport and Garafolo. It's a surprisingly cheap price to pay for the Ravens to add a receiving weapon.
The move bolsters an already dangerous Baltimore offense, which has shredded defenses through the air and on the ground through eight weeks.
Johnson, a former Pittsburgh Steeler, teams up with Lamar Jackson, Zay Flowers, Derrick Henry, Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely in a pick-your-poison offense. Johnson's ability on the outside should help open things up for the shifty Flowers and give Jackson a field-stretching and back-shoulder boundary weapon. He's an immediate upgrade over Rashod Bateman and ensures the Ravens' depth should injuries strike.
With Johnson in the final year of his contract, he's a hired weapon for a Ravens team that has leaned on the offense in 2024. The defense still has issues that could be aided in the trade market. But for today, Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta decided to double down on the offense. If Baltimore isn't going to slow opponents, at least they can try to run away from them on offense every week.
