They say everything has its ups and downs and we suppose that's even true about winning the Super Bowl twice in a row. As the Kansas City Chiefs aim for a three-peat—the first ever in National Football League history—they're hoping to restock the wide receiver position. But it's clear some teams aren't interested in helping the cause.
Diontae Johnson has been on the trade block for the Pittsburgh Steelers for quite some time. A deal was finally culminated on Tuesday when the Carolina Panthers agreed to a player and pick swap that brought over cornerback Donte Jackson to the Steelers.
There are downsides, we suppose, about being the reigning champs.
What came out after the fact was that the Chiefs were also interested in Johnson and had communicated with his reps about a potential trade. The Steelers had told Johnson he could explore a potential deal via his agent, but when they heard about the Chiefs, that was clearly not going to happen.
NFL reporter Mike Garafolo sat down to give some further insight on NFL Network's Total Access and said the Steelers basically didn't want any storylines of Johnson being a bit too close to home.
"The Kansas City Chiefs had conversations with them at some point, but it didn't seem like they'd trade him within the AFC to a contender if possible," said Garafolo.
So it appears the Chiefs could have potentially put together a deal for Diontae Johnson if they weren't the Chiefs. Therein lies the shadow side of being the kings of the NFL's hill. It's a small price to pay to have to pass on Johnson, but we're pretty sure Chiefs Kingdom is okay with that.
That is, unless they wanted to just deal with the Panthers instead and just work around the Steelers.