We're only two games into the season, and Mike Tomlin has already had it with rookie running back Kaleb Johnson. The third-round pick coughed up the football on a kick return in the season-opener against the Jets—a ball that the Pittsburgh Steelers fortunately recovered. But his brutal mistake in Week 2 already has him in Tomlin's doghouse.
When the Seattle Seahawks kicked the ball to the Steelers in the second half after a score, Johnson let the ball hit in the landing zone and bounce into the end zone without recovering the football. For whatever reason, Johnson thought the ball was dead, and in one of the most bizarre special teams plays you'll ever see, the kicking team jumped on the football in the end zone for a touchdown.
Tomlin has no patience for foolishness like this, and the Steelers' head coach informed the media that Johnson has been benched from kick return duties.
Though we can all understand where Tomlin is coming from with this decision, he needs to give Johnson a chance to redeem himself against the New England Patriots on Sunday.
The Pittsburgh Steelers must let Kaleb Johnson run the football against the New England Patriots
When a young player makes a careless mistake that may have cost the Pittsburgh Steelers a tally in the win column, the easy thing to do is send that player to the bench. However, in this case, it's not the right choice.
Johnson was never drafted to be the Steelers' kick returner; he was drafted to run the football—something he did better than any running back in the Big Ten last year. He's tailor-made for Arthur Smith's wide zone offense. But with only two carries in as many games, Johnson hasn't been given the opportunities to prove himself.
It would make more sense for Tomlin to give Johnson a timeout on the bench if Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell were running the ball well. Unfortunately, they are not. Entering Week 3, Warren and Gainwell have combined for 124 yards on 37 attempts. This is good for a dismal 3.3 yards per carry
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Gainwell, in particular, has been incredibly inefficient. In addition to his 33.3 percent run success rate, the veteran running back has turned nine targets in the passing game into just 20 yards (2.2 yards per target). Gainwell has also fumbled once in his first two games, just like Johnson.
The Steelers' running game hasn't been able to get off the ground, and Kaleb Johnson is the last person on offense to blame. Tomlin has only given him two carries, though Omar Khan drafted him to be this team's workhorse back eventually.
Johnson turned 22 years old last month, and he's not going to get better by sitting on the bench. The Pittsburgh Steelers need to give him a shot to redeem himself by actually using him as a running back in Week 3 against the New England Patriots.