Diontae Johnson suspended one game for the most unbelievable reason

Well, Flock Nation, the Diontae Johnson saga has taken yet another bizarre turn. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any stranger, the Baltimore Ravens announced today that Johnson has been suspended for one game. The reason? He flat-out refused to enter the Week 13 game against the Eagles. Yes, you read that right. An NFL player, whose job is to play football, did not want to play football.

Ravens GM Eric DeCosta broke the news in a statement that somehow felt both shocking and inevitable at the same time. “We have made the difficult decision to suspend Diontae Johnson for our upcoming game against the New York Giants for conduct detrimental to the team,” DeCosta said. “Diontae’s suspension stems from refusing to enter our game against the Philadelphia Eagles. We will have no further comments on this matter going forward.”

This is where we are now. The Ravens traded assets for Johnson at the deadline, hoping he would give Lamar Jackson another weapon. Instead, he has been the NFL equivalent of a ghost, both on and off the field. He played sparingly in his first few weeks with the team and then logged zero snaps against Philadelphia despite being dressed and on the sidelines. Fans were already questioning what was going on, but now the answers only make the situation feel more ridiculous.

Diontae Johnson gets suspended for not wanting to play football...

Let’s break this down for a second. Johnson is a professional football player. His entire existence on the team is predicated on stepping onto the field and making plays when called upon. For him to refuse to do that is not just a bad look, it’s baffling.

Was it frustration over his limited role? Was it a deeper issue with the coaching staff? Did he simply not feel like playing? Whatever the case, the optics are terrible.

This suspension probably cements what we’ve all been thinking for weeks: Diontae Johnson’s time with the Ravens is likely over. You don’t come back from something like this, especially on a team fighting for its playoff life. It’s hard to see Harbaugh or DeCosta giving him another shot after such a blatant act of insubordination.

At the end of the day, this entire situation is just plain weird. The Ravens needed Johnson to be a game-changer. Instead, he’s become a distraction. Now, the team will move forward without him for at least one game. And quite possibly for good. For a midseason acquisition that was supposed to boost the offense, this is about as wild of an ending as you could imagine.

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