Panthers trade Donte Jackson to Steelers for Diontae Johnson

The Carolina Panthers are continuing their trend of jettisoning defensive assets to load up on offensive talent. Today they are trading Donte Jackson, the team’s second round pick (55th overall) in the 2018 NFL draft and has been a Panther his entire career, for former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Diontae Johnson and a late round pick swap.

The 28-year old Jackson had 303 tackles, 14 interceptions, 46 passes defended, three forced fumbles, one sack, and one touchdown in his six seasons with the Panthers. He was consistently one of the better members of Carolina’s secondary when healthy. Injuries kept him from playing a full season in any since his rookie year. He was never the best corner in the NFL but he was certainly good enough that he will be missed.

It had already been announced that the Panthers were going to release Jackson.

Johnson, meanwhile, is a 27-year old wide receiver who was taken by the Steelers with the 66th overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. He has totaled 391 receptions on 639 targets for 4363 yards and 25 touchdowns in his five seasons. He accumulated those stats while catching passes from late career Ben Roethlisberger, Devlin Hodges, Mason Rudolph, Mitch Trubisky, and Kenny Pickett.

Johnson is neither a large (5’10”, 183 lbs) receiver nor is he a burner (4.53 s 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine), but he has neared 1,000 yard seasons in the last two years with inconsistent quarterback play due to his agility and technique. He was not acquired to be the deep threat the team needs. Instead, they will be looking to him to serve a similar role to Adam Thielen in getting open quickly to give Bryce Young options to get the ball out before he approaches another record for sacks taken in 2024.