Quentin Johnston spoke to the media on Tuesday for the first time in 2024. He opened his presser by mentioning how much more confident he feels compared to his rookie campaign.
“Obviously, having a year under my belt, I have a lot more experience going into this year. I know what to expect,” Johnston said.
In describing his 2023 campaign, Johnston mentioned that he tends to be critical of himself when identifying areas for improvement. Teammate Josh Palmer also mentioned the element of being self-critical as something that’s different for the former TCU product entering Year 2.
In identifying areas for improvement, Johnston said he noticed plays in 2023 where he “lost focus” without proper attention to detail. When asked later about specific times he lost focus, he brought up his rather infamous drop against the Packers.
From last season, kind of the main one, the one that sticks in my head, the obvious one versus Green Bay. That one, it was obvious that he was scrambling. I kind of just eased up because I wasn’t sure what he was going to do instead of just keeping on my path, which I obviously should have done. I would have had an easy catch. Then, at the catch-point, taking my eyes off of it. I look it all the way in. I feel like it was a lack of focus all together. It’s something to me, my coaches, my teammates that I owe far better. It was straight-up unacceptable. I always kind of go back to that moment when I step back out on practice or if I’m feeling a certain type of way at practice, I always go back to that. Okay, if I take a day off here, it’ll kind of correlate or wind down into a game like that, which, obviously, I do not want again.
Johnston said that he agreed that drops could be attributed to loss of concentration in most scenarios when asked by a reporter:
100 percent. 100 percent because of all of the balls that I caught, I’m looking it into the tuck. Literally, every single one of my drops last year, I see the ball and I’m looking to run upfield and take my eyes off of it. Obviously, you can’t catch something you can’t see. That was the main thing with that. That’s why I go back to focus. Just actually being locked in, laser focused. Just being more detailed in everything that I do. Not just route running like I’ve said before, but in my catching. There’s a lot to actually catching a football if you just break it down. It’s not just catch and okay. It’s catch it. Have it right here. Eyes to the tuck so it’s secured. The way you hold it after the catch and stuff like that. It’s just something that I needed to pick up more.
Johnston also briefly mentioned the departures of Keenan Allen and Mike Williams when asked. He mentioned texting them both good luck and hopes he can bring the leadership to the Chargers that they brought for him as a rookie.