Steelers surprised many observers by using the early 3rd round pick they got from Oakland (#66) in the Antonio Brown trade on little known receiver/returner Diontae Johnson from Toledo. There was a sense of deja vu with the pick since Johnson is a quick, undersized receiver out of the MAC, as Brown was a decade ago. Still, it seemed like a bit of a reach at the spot and even the player was surprised to be taken that early. Defending the pick at the Day Two press conference, Steelers WR coach Darryl Drake insisted that the Bucs would have taken D.J. shortly afterwards (#70) and said Bruce Arians called him after the pick and cussed him out for "taking our guy". Jason Licht seemed to laugh that off a bit when asked about it later, but it seems reasonable Johnson, who is very similar in stature to Adam Humphries and was a top college punt returner, would have been in the Bucs crosshairs, if not at #70, perhaps later in the draft.
As it unfolded T.B. traded back from #70, added two DB at the end of round 3 and a DE/OLB shortly after at the top of R4. Then came the PK in R5, and it wasn't until R6 (#208 overall) that they made their first selection on the offensive side of the ball. As it turned out, a speedy, undersized MAC receiver in Scotty Miller from Bowling Green. To keep the closure theme alive, Miller was taken with a pick acquired from Philly for DeSean Jackson. Scotty M. is as close to a physical clone of Jackson as Diontae Johnson was to Antonio Brown. So while taking Diontae Johnson would have been viewed as replacing the Humphries role in TB, taking Miller is more likely to address the DeSean Jackson role.
Comparing Miller and D. Johnson, Diontae is an inch taller and nearly 10 pounds heavier, although he is also a year older. Correspondingly his arm length and wingspan are a bit greater. Their Combine/Pro Day numbers were fairly close with the exception of the 40 where Scott Miller was nearly 0.2 faster (4.35 - 4.53). Both played in the MAC, and Miller was more productive in his 3 years as a starter, despite playing for a poorer team with less overall passing yardage each year. Johnson had a better career YPC average (16.4-14.2) and they ended up with the same number of receiving TDs. Miller's numbers get a bit of a boost from the fact that he was the sole receiving target through all the games he started at B.G., while Johnson had capable support from 2 other receivers at Toledo. Scott ended up accounting for 34% of his team's passing yardage over 3 seasons, Johnson 28% of total passing yardage. The Toledo player made up for that by putting up better KR yardage than Miller over his career, and was especially effective as a PR.
So overall, the two players seem similar in many respects, but likely will have slightly different roles. There is a message in the players who were traded for their respective draft picks. Antonio Brown and DeSean Jackson. Steelers are using Johnson on the outside in a similar role to Brown. Bucs have been running Miller out of the slot and as a deep threat on the outside similar to Jackson. I'm sure Arians and Special Teams would have loved to have Johnson's fluid athleticism in the return game, but they may have ended up with the safer pick in Miller. Diontae Johnson missed an entire season due to a foot injury and academic issues. Miller has been extremely consistent and injury free despite his stature, and is nothing if not a bright upbeat young guy.
