Steelers rookie running back Kaleb Johnson eager to prove he can do it all, blocking included
Pittsburgh Steelers running back Kaleb Johnson (20) and DeMarvin Leal (98) take the practice field at the NFL football training camp in Latrobe, Pa., Saturday, July 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
LATROBE, Pa. (AP) — Kaleb Johnson isn’t worried about what happens when the football is in his hands.
That’s always been the easy part.
The Pittsburgh Steelers rookie running back has been doing this long enough to trust his talent and the instincts that made him an All-American at Iowa last fall.
Yet the third-round pick understands that if he wants to get on the field regularly, he’ll have to show coach Mike Tomlin and everyone else what he can do when the ball is elsewhere. Namely, standing in the backfield and doing what he can to use his sturdy 6-foot-1, 224-pound frame to create a little extra time for quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Pass protection wasn’t a priority at Iowa, where passing is seemingly never a priority. Johnson piled up 1,537 yards rushing and 23 total touchdowns anyway as a junior in 2024, even though opponents almost always knew what was coming.
Yet when Johnson met with Tomlin during Iowa’s “Pro Day,” Johnson didn’t waste time trying to describe his method or his running style. Instead, he told the league’s longest-tenured coach that if the Steelers drafted him, he was looking forward to the singularly violent “backs on backers” drill that is the annual highlight of the first day in pads during training camp at Saint Vincent College.
Why? Johnson had done his homework. He scanned social media and found a video of Steelers third-year back Jaylen Warren — all of 5-foot-8 — lighting up a blitzing defender.
“(The video) was hype,” Johnson said.
Johnson’s message to Tomlin that day: draft me and I’ll prove to you I can do the same thing.
“I really want to show people what I can do,” he said.
The Steelers were convinced — both by Johnson’s passion and the healthy amount of what Tomlin called “Sunday runs” (a Tomlin-ism for NFL-caliber) Johnson made against Big Ten defenses stacked to stop him — to take him with the 83rd overall pick in the draft.
And while Johnson has broken off a handful of long runs during the opening days of camp this week, they’ve all come during what Tomlin not-so-lovingly describes as “football in shorts.”
The first real test of how ready Johnson is to compete for a starting job right away will come on Tuesday when Johnson has pads under his No. 20 jersey for the first time.
That’s when Tomlin will line one of Pittsburgh’s star linebackers, maybe even T.J. Watt, currently the NFL’s highest-paid defender, across from Johnson. On the whistle, the linebacker will attempt to go over, around, or through Johnson in an attempt to get to the quarterback.
The one-on-one matchups give rookies on both sides of the ball a chance to make a memorable first impression.
Asked if he expects Tomlin to send one of his “hitmen” at him to gauge his readiness, Johnson replied simply, “I know he is, and I’m ready for it.”
Hardly surprising, considering Johnson looked ready for pretty much anything during his three years at Iowa, where he displayed the kind of big-play ability — Johnson had more than 30 runs of 20 yards or more with the Hawkeyes — that Pittsburgh’s rushing attack largely lacked during Najee Harris’ steady (four straight 1,000-yard seasons) but rarely spectacular tenure.
Johnson will be given every opportunity to play right away, as Harris was four years ago. Yet there is no rivalry building between Johnson and Warren, a former undrafted rookie free agent who has become an unlikely success story.
Warren said Johnson’s skill set “has got it all.” Johnson, meanwhile, has praised Warren for showing him the “ins and outs” of picking up the blitz, something Warren has become so adept at that center Zach Frazier likened it to having another lineman on the field.
While Tomlin frequently called Harris a “bell cow,” the reality is that the Steelers split playing time pretty evenly between Harris and Warren a year ago. Harris was on the field for 50% of Pittsburgh’s offensive snaps. Warren was out there 40% of the time.
Expect something similar in 2025, with veteran Kenneth Gainwell in the mix too after coming over from Philadelphia. Johnson is happy to simply be part of the group for now, though he wants to make it a point to prove to Tomlin that he’s capable in any situation.
“I feel like I’m an all-around back,” he said.
Starting Tuesday — with one of Tomlin’s “hitmen” standing across from him — Johnson will get a chance to prove it.
NOTES: Former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, center Maurkice Pouncey, and linebacker Joey Porter Jr. were selected to the club’s Hall of Honor on Saturday by team president Art Rooney II. The trio will be officially inducted at Acrisure Stadium on Dec. 15 when the Steelers host Miami.
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