Pittsburgh Steelers Star WR Diontae Johnson Denies Report That He Punched QB Mitch Trubisky In The Face

The Pittsburgh Steelers had a tumultuous 2022 season.

Ultimately, Pittsburgh finished the season 9-8 and just one spot outside of the AFC playoffs.

But the Steelers’ path to that point was anything but straightforward.

Pittsburgh began the year searching for a replacement to Ben Roethlisberger, who retired following the 2021 season. What began as a three-horse race between career backup Mason Rudolph, newly signed veteran Mitch Trubisky and first-round pick Kenny Pickett quickly whittled its way down to two.

Trubisky and Pickett battled for the job in the preseason, with both impressing at times. But it was Trubisky, the favorite from the start, who ultimately won the job.

But that didn’t last long. The journeyman quarterback started the first four games of the seasons and struggled. The Steelers went just 1-3 in those games and Trubisky threw for just 653 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

Pickett took the starting job the following week against the Buffalo Bills and, outside of a few games missed due to injury, kept the job the rest of the year.

Now it appears there’s more to the story.

CBS Sports radio host Gregg Giannotti dropped a bombshell on Friday morning when he revealed that Steelers star wide receiver Diontae Johnson punched Trubisky in the face prior to a Week 4 loss to the New York Jets.

“(We) had Cameron Heyward sitting here of the Pittsburgh Steelers and I asked him ‘how the hell did you lose to Zach Wilson and the Jets,'” Giannotti began. “And he said ‘you know, I was under the weather that week. I think we had a bug around the locker room. TJ Watt didn’t play, he had an injury.’

“So then I asked my buddy from Pittsburgh, ‘did you hear about that going into that game? That the team was sick?’ and he goes ‘No. That’s not what was talking about. What he was talking about, the bug in the locker room was that wide receiver Diontae Johnson punched Mitch Trubisky in the face that week.'”

Giannotti said that his source was solid on the information and that the incident led to Trubisky getting benched.

Johnson, who made his first Pro Bowl in 2021, caught 21 fewer passes for 279 fewer yards in 2022. He also had a grand total of zero touchdowns.

But he denies the interaction with Trubisky ever happened.

Whether the truth ever comes out is likely down to Johnson, Trubisky and anyone else in the Steelers locker room at the time of the alleged altercation.