Kaleb Johnson's Steelers career may have just hit a new low point

Pittsburgh Steelers running back Kaleb Johnson has had a rollercoaster career since being selected No. 83 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft. He was considered a steal by many draft analysts when Pittsburgh added him to their backfield, and he was expected to help replace former starting running back Najee Harris after he left in free agency to join the Chargers.

Instead, free agent pickup Kenneth Gainwell stole the show as Jaylen Warren's running mate last season, leaving Johnson without much of a role offensively. His kick return blunder in Week 2 against the Seahawks put him firmly in Mike Tomlin's doghouse as well, and his lack of snaps in the Steelers' first preseason game this year seems to suggest that new head coach Mike McCarthy isn't a huge fan of him either.

As bad as all of that is, his future in Pittsburgh may be getting even bleaker based on a recent report from practice this Sunday. According to Alex Kozora of Steelers Depot, Johnson was behind every other running back on the roster in terms of carry order during their run period at practice.

Kaleb Johnson continues to fall out of favor with the Pittsburgh Steelers

At the risk of sounding biased (I was a huge fan of Johnson coming out of the draft), it's hard to fathom his career going as poorly as it has through his first year and change in Pittsburgh. Johnson was billed as an excellent outside zone runner coming out of Iowa and was a perfect fit for the style of run game former Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith liked to deploy.

Instead of thriving as a rookie, he was rendered ineffective even in the limited opportunities he did get with the ball in his hands. He only managed 78 total yards on 29 touches, showing zero explosiveness and ability to break tackles or make people miss.

I think it's fair to wonder if Johnson benefited more from the scheme and blockers in front of him than fans of his game originally thought. I will admit that many of his best runs were plays where he had a ton of space to build up speed and then generate power once he got to the second level.

That scenario is just not as common at the NFL level. So much about playing running back at this level is about vision, burst, and the ability to create missed tackles. Without any of those traits being a strength for Johnson, he is fighting an uphill battle to be productive.

We'll see if Johnson can do enough on special teams and improve as a runner over the next few weeks to make the final roster, but the odds seem stacked against him at this point.

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