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First Call: Is Diontae Johnson's contract keeping him away from workouts? Tampa Bay mocks Maulers' chicken salad saga | TribLIVE.com
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Maulers

First Call: Is Diontae Johnson's contract keeping him away from workouts? Tampa Bay mocks Maulers' chicken salad saga

Tim Benz
Tim Benz

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Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review
Steelers receiver Diontae Johnson with a catch against the Ravens on Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021 at Heinz Field.

In Tuesday’s “First Call,” Diontae Johnson seems displeased about a tweet from a Pittsburgh radio personality. Another free agent receiver from Johnson’s draft class may be of interest to the Steelers. Sidney Crosby reached out to a former Team Canada teammate after his comeback.

And Todd Haley couldn’t let the opportunity for a jab or two at the Pittsburgh USFL team go by.

Twitter spat

Andrew Fillipponi of 93.7 The Fan sent out a tweet stating that Diontae Johnson did not attend the start of the Steelers’ voluntary offseason program on Monday. And he implied that Johnson’s displeasure with his current contract is the reason why.

Later in the day, Johnson appeared to refute that. The receiver hinted at a rebuttal, although he did not issue a direct denial of the report.

Johnson is entering the final year of his contract. Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, three young star NFL wideouts — San Francisco’s Deebo Samuel, Tennessee’s A.J. Brown and Washington’s Terry McLaurin — will all sit out from their teams’ offseason workouts in the hope of getting new deals.

Wide receiver contracts have exploded this offseason. Tyreek Hill got $72 million guaranteed from the Miami Dolphins. Davante Adams is getting more than $67 million from the Raiders over three years.

Maybe Miles?

On the topic of wide receivers, one of note for the Steelers just became available.

The Ravens released Miles Boykin. Previously, the Steelers appeared to have an interest in him, having spoken with him in 2019 in pre-draft interviews at team headquarters. But Boykin never really found a groove in Baltimore.

The Notre Dame product was drafted at No. 93 overall in ‘19. The Steelers took Johnson 27 picks earlier in that round.

Boykin played in 40 games as a member of the Ravens, topping out in ‘20 with 19 receptions for 266 receiving yards and four touchdowns. In his three years in Baltimore, Boykin had a total of 33 receptions for 470 yards and seven touchdowns.

Appreciative of the support

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price made his first start of the season Friday night. He hadn’t played all year thanks to offseason knee surgery and time in the NHL’s player assistance program.

In November, Price admitted that he was dealing with a “substance use” problem. As a result, he hasn’t played since the end of last year when he led the club to the Stanley Cup Final.

But, on Saturday, he returned and stopped 17 of 19 shots in a 3-0 loss to the New York Islanders. After the game, Price pointed out Sidney Crosby — along with former teammate Tomas Plekanec — as two of the players who reached out to congratulate him on his return.

Crosby and Price have been teammates on Team Canada in the past and have played against each other since Price made his NHL debut against Crosby and the Penguins in October 2007.

Tough night to be off

The idle Penguins lost ground on both ends of the Metropolitan Divison race Monday. They lost two points on their lead over the fourth-place Washington Capitals. And the first-place Carolina Hurricanes picked up two more points atop the division.

Carolina won 5-3 in Arizona over the Coyotes. Pittsburgh-area product Vince Trocheck was one of five goal scorers for the Canes. Meanwhile, the Capitals scored a 3-2 upset against the NHL-leading Colorado Avalanche in Denver. Alex Ovechkin scored his 48th goal on a power play.

So the top four in the Metro Division standings looks like this:

1. Hurricanes (106 points)

2 Rangers (104)

3. Penguins (97)

4. Capitals (96)

If the Pens fall behind the Caps, they may have to end up flopping over to the Atlantic Division as a wild card to face the Florida Panthers in the first round. They have 114 points and have won 10 in a row.

Couldn’t pass it up

Leave it to Todd Haley and his Tampa Bay Bandits to have some fun at the expense of his fellow former Steelers assistant coach, Kirby Wilson, and the Pittsburgh Maulers in their USFL debut

As you may have seen on Monday, Wilson and the Maulers made national news for how they cut running back De’Veon Smith. Apparently, it was because he didn’t want chicken salad at lunch and preferred pizza. But maybe he wasn’t exactly pleasant in how he asked for it.

As a result, during the Tampa-Pittsburgh USFL game Monday night, Haley (never exactly one to let an opportunity for a dart to go by unused) apparently had his defense use “chicken salad” as a call at the line of scrimmage.

Haley wasn’t done trolling Pittsburgh’s team. He sent out this tweet after the game.

I’m not sure if that tradition has made it down to Birmingham yet.

After the game, the Primanti Bros. sandwich chain decided to pile on the chicken salad saga as a way to promote their pizza.

For the record, De’Veon, Primanti Bros. pizza is very underrated. You may want to consider the offer.

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.

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Categories: Maulers | Sports | Steelers/NFL | Breakfast With Benz | Tim Benz Columns
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