BEREA, Ohio — The Cleveland Browns are releasing veteran wide receiver Diontae Johnson, a league source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Tuesday.
Johnson acknowledged the impending move in a post on X
“Appreciate the opportunity regardless,” Johnson wrote.
Cleveland signed Johnson in April to a one-year deal worth the veteran minimum ($1.17 million) that includes no guaranteed money. It marked the fourth team for Johnson, 29, in two years after a drama-filled 2024 season in which he spent time with the Carolina Panthers, Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans.
In June, Johnson said that the Browns were the only team that reached out to him in free agency and that he was trying to “change that narrative” in Cleveland.
After leading the Panthers with 30 receptions and 357 receiving yards in the first two months of the 2024 season, Johnson was traded to the Ravens with a sixth-round draft pick for Baltimore’s fifth-round selection. He lasted seven weeks with the Ravens, totaling one catch, six receiving yards and a one-game suspension for refusing to play in a Dec. 1 game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
After Baltimore waived him, Johnson was claimed by the Texans on Dec. 23 and managed two catches for 12 yards in one game with Houston. He then was waived by the Texans on Jan. 14 after he was visibly upset after playing 15 snaps in a wild-card playoff win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
In his short stint with the Browns, Johnson caught three passes for 6 yards in three preseason games.
A third-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2019 NFL draft, Johnson earned a Pro Bowl selection in 2021 with his lone 1,000-yard season and a career-high eight touchdown receptions in quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s final year.
ESPN’s Jamison Hensley contributed to this report.
