Fantasy Football Takeaways from Thursday Night: Diontae Johnson Overtakes George Pickens? Is Will Levis the Long-Term Starter?

The Thursday night battle between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans went just about exactly as I expected it to. It was a back-and-forth contest, with the Steelers scoring a late touchdown to secure a 20-16 win.

With every NFL game, fantasy owners can learn something. What I want to focus on from the game are the performances of Steelers’ Diontae Johnson and George Pickens and Titans’ Will Levis.

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Is Johnson the Steelers’ No. 1 Fantasy Wide Receiver over Pickens?

Johnson was banged up early in the season and was placed on injured reserve. In his three games since returning, he’s done nothing but produce for Pittsburgh.

Johnson returned a couple weeks ago against the Los Angeles Rams, catching five of his six targets for 79 yards. He then was targeted 14 times in a loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in week 8, catching eight of the passes for 85 yards.

Johnson delivered his best game yet against the Titans. He was targeted nine times, catching seven passes for 90 yards and a touchdown. 

It was Johnson’s first touchdown since 2021. Wait, how can I possibly think Johnson is the better fantasy option than Pickens if he just scored for the first time in nearly two years? Let me explain.

Johnson is obviously the seasoned veteran of the two, playing in his fifth season with the Steelers, while Pickens is in just his second. Even though Pickens was the better fantasy wideout a season ago, Johnson was the one who finished with more receiving yards. The lack of touchdowns kept Johnson below Pickens.

This season’s numbers are obviously skewed because of Johnson’s injury, so let’s break things down, starting with stats from when both players played full games.

In the season opener, Johnson caught three of the six passes thrown his way for 48 yards. Pickens had five grabs on seven targets for 36 yards. Pretty similar fantasy outings.

Johnson was hurt in week 2, so we’ll jump to the game against the Rams. While Johnson had five grabs for 79 yards, Pickens had five catches on eight targets for 107 yards. So that game, Pickens still looked like the top fantasy option, but Johnson also played 14 less offensive snaps in his first game back from injury.

Pickens played 62 snaps to Johnson’s 61 in week 8 against the Jaguars, but Johnson was the clear No. 1 fantasy option with his eight catches for 85 yards. Pickens was held to one catch on five targets for 22 yards, but did score a touchdown to put up a respectable fantasy score.

Pickens again played one more snap in week 9 against the Titans, but saw Johnson outproduce him in a big way. While Johnson had seven grabs for 90 yards and a touchdown, Pickens finished with negative-one yards on two catches and five targets. 

This isn’t a trend you like if you are a Pickens’ owner, but something you love if you roster Johnson.

With Johnson out, Pickens was a fantasy star, finishing with three games over 75 receiving yards, including two 100+ yard contests. Aside from Johnson’s first game back from injury, where he was limited, Pickens has been outproduced by Johnson every week.

Pickens’ owners are definitely panicking right now, so I wouldn’t be shocked if he was one of the more popular trade targets going into week 10. If you can find an owner who isn’t all that worried about Pickens’ value with Johnson back, I’d absolutely try to deal away Pickens while his value is somewhat decent. He’s not going to produce statlines like he did in week 9 every week, but I also think the 100+ yard contests are a thing of the past as long as Johnson is around. Johnson is the Pittsburgh wideout I’d want on my fantasy team right now.

Did Levis do Enough to Become the Team’s Long-Term Starter?

Levis dazzled in his NFL debut in week 8, throwing four touchdowns and no interceptions, so it was surprising that coach Mike Vrabel was non-committal about naming him the long-term starter.

As I expected, Levis struggled a bit in the primetime contest against a solid Steelers’ defense, but he still did some good things. He finished with 262 passing yards after completing 22 of his 39 passes. He didn’t throw a touchdown, was picked off once and was sacked four times.

With the amount of pressure Levis was facing all night, I thought he handled things well, while also giving the team a chance to win. After the contest, Vrabel didn’t seem all that thrilled with the rookie quarterback.

The team’s mini bye week after the Thursday game probably will give Ryan Tannehill enough time to heal up and be ready to play and start if the team chooses to go that route. It’s hard to see what the Titans do in Tannehill looking at his numbers compared to the ones Levis has produced in two games.

Tannehill started six games and has completed 62% of his passes for 1,128 yards, two touchdowns and six interceptions. In two games, Levis has a bit under half those yards (500), has completed a similar percentage of passes (60.3%), has double the touchdowns (4) and not nearly as many interceptions (1).

I get that Tannehill is the veteran that is owed a lot of money this season, but he’s also in the last year of his contract. Instead of letting Tannehill finish out the season - one that doesn’t seem destined for a playoff appearance - why not start the rookie and see if he’s the future leader of the franchise? It just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

I don’t think we’ve seen the last of either Tennessee quarterback. I have a gut feeling that Tannehill will start again, probably in week 10, but I also believe Levis will be given another chance before the season is up. 

I only see Levis as a decent fantasy asset right now, so I wouldn’t add Tannehill if you don’t have to. If you aren’t playing in a redraft league, you’d probably be best served to hold on to Levis, even if he isn’t the starter at this point next week. He’ll get his chance again. I like what I’ve seen from him and believe he will be the team’s starter going into next season.

This will be a fascinating story to follow as the season progresses, and one that’s probably going to anger a lot of fantasy owners. Not only does Levis look like the better fantasy asset than Tannehill, but he also boosts the value of some of the offensive players around him. 

Derrick Henry and DeAndre Hopkins are much safer starts, in my opinion, with Levis behind center than Tannehill. Levis turned Kyle Philips into a decent fantasy option on Thursday night. Philips caught four passes for 68 yards. Philips is a wideout that’s barely played any games in his two seasons with the team.

Starting Tannehill over Levis will make the decision to start Henry and D-Hop that much more difficult every week.

This probably isn’t the last time we’ll be talking about the Titans’ starting quarterback, so be sure to check back in the coming weeks when the team reveals who the starter will be.