Mark Madden: Diontae Johnson hasn't performed like the Steelers' No. 1 receiver

The Pittsburgh Steelers are 3-7. It’s hard to remember when they were this far out of the playoff race this quickly.

Maybe 2003, when the Steelers started 2-6 and finished 6-10.

They lost their first four games in 2013 but rallied to go 8-8 and miss a wild card by a solitary game.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season goes. What gets prioritized.

Coach Mike Tomlin never has had cause to worry about anything but winning the next game. That likely still will be Tomlin’s approach.

With the presumed weaker part of their schedule on deck, it would be so Steelers to finish 7-10 and just slightly too good to draft a can’t-miss talent. Finish middle, draft middle, stay middle.

Tomlin isn’t used to this situation. Neither is the locker room.

Cam Heyward is 33. It should be dawning on him that he won’t win a Super Bowl.

T.J. Watt is 28, but his body has been breaking down these past two years. It should be dawning on him that he might not win a playoff game with the Steelers.

It’s a good bet that some situations will come to a boil.

Like Diontae Johnson’s predicament.

Johnson signed a two-year, $36.71 million contract extension prior to the season. That’s No. 1 receiver money.

Johnson hasn’t performed like a No. 1 receiver.

He’s only credited with three drops but has botched several more catchable balls.

He has a team-high 51 catches on a team-high 86 targets.

But after 10 games, Johnson has zero touchdowns. His yards-after-catch average is an absurdly low 1.9.

Johnson’s receptions and targets are fading. He hasn’t topped five catches since Week 3.

In the Steelers’ last three games, Johnson has been targeted just 19 times and made only 13 catches. In Sunday’s home loss to Cincinnati, Johnson had four catches on five targets for 21 receiving yards. Yuck.

As rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett warms to starting, tight end Pat Freiermuth seems the workhouse receiver. Wideout George Pickens seems the star receiver.

Where does that leave Johnson?

On the pay-no-mind list, it appears. He’s going to like that less and less.

Johnson and quarterback Mitch Trubisky had a heated locker-room argument at halftime of the Week 4 home loss to the New York Jets. That row may have been a factor in Tomlin making Pickett the No. 1 quarterback then and there.

Johnson reportedly was mad because Trubisky wasn’t getting him the ball more.

The irony: Johnson’s three best games this season have come with Trubisky starting. Johnson got seven, six and eight receptions in Weeks 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Johnson hasn’t made more than five catches in a game since.

Perhaps Johnson should start yelling at Pickett.

Tomlin excreted a flurry of insanely lame babble to explain Johnson getting less catches and targets: “Diontae is the known commodity within the group. People are going to have an agenda to minimize his impact on the game.”

Antonio Brown was the known commodity within his group. People had an agenda to minimize his impact. Yet he somehow got targets and catches.

Johnson isn’t Brown. But he’s not chopped liver, either. Should he be so cavalierly written off by the opposition’s gameplan?

Here’s guessing that when Johnson draws double coverage, Pickett is scared to throw into it even if Johnson finds space. Pickett might trust Johnson, but he doesn’t trust his own arm. Freiermuth and Pickens are bigger targets in less traffic.

Pickett still isn’t improving, BTW. As Josh Yohe tweeted, “Pickett doesn’t have the physical attributes that most first-round picks have.” Even the hockey writer sees that.