Houston Texans claim WR Diontae Johnson on waivers ahead of matchup vs. Ravens

The Houston Texans have picked up WR Diontae Johnson on waivers on Monday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.

The move comes after the Texans lost WR Tank Dell for the season with a significant knee injury. Houston is the third team Johnson will play on this season having spent time with the Carolina Panthers and Baltimore Ravens, the latter of which waived him last week.

Houston takes on Baltimore on Christmas day, but it’s unclear if Johnson will be able to suit up for the Texans for the matchup.

Schefter expanded on his original report during an appearance on NFL Live on Monday.

“Diontae Johnson will be spending Christmas in the company of the Ravens, with Houston hosting his former team on Wednesday,” Schefter said on ESPN. “Obviously, the Texans lost Tank Dell for the season, they’ve lost Stefon Diggs for the season. They need help and they now have put in a claim for Diontae Johnson.

“There are a number of teams that were considering putting in a claim. It will be interesting to see which teams behind the Texans may have also put in claims because I suspect there will be at least one other that put in a claim for Diontae Johnson, but it doesn’t matter because Houston had priority, Houston gets Diontae Johnson and Houston was looking for some added help for the postseason, and found it in the form of the former Ravens wide receiver.”

Before this season, Johnson spent the first five seasons of his career in Pittsburgh. Now, he looks to make the most out of the rest of his season as his team has already locked up a playoff spot in the AFC.

The Texans are getting a player who has totaled 4,726 career receiving and 28 touchdowns since entering the league in 2019. His lone 1,000-yard receiving season came with the Steelers during the 2021 season.