Welcome to the Steelers, Kaleb Johnson

Gets to stay in black and gold.

Good luck and welcome aboard!

 

Another good pick for Steelers. Getting quality, not quantity in '25.

 

That is a reason they like him. Plus, he's built like an AFC North rb. He didn't have a great 40 time but mid 4.5's is hardly slow. He seems to have faster playing speed. And he's NEVER fumbled.

Arthur Smith said they didn't run the stuff he likes to run(outside zone) much, because he didn't have the right pieces. But, Iowa ran a lot of it with Johnson.

He wasn't my first choice, but at the end of the 3rd he was great value at a position of need. I never thought he'd be there at #83. And he's a specimen. Hope he has the durability of Najee.

 

Welcome, not familiar with his game, but first 2 minutes of that YouTube kinda looks like a duplicate of Warren, no?

 

Lots about KJ, pretty crazy stats.

 

Hopefully he catches the NFL by surprise like Arian Foster and Le'Veon Bell did. I worry about the OL more than Johnson. Harris never had a good OL to run behind.

 

Here's what AI has to say about Johnson:

 

That was my thought as well. Now we have two of the same type of RB. At least they both should be able to beat off defenders.

 

I'm not a fan of picking RB at 83. But if RB was the pick, I would have preferred Dillon Sampson.

 

I think this pick will be a good one.

 

Hope you're right. I'm a bit more bearish on the pick at the moment.

 

We needed a RB and he seems to fit our style. Personally, I would have kept Najee for the 5th year and gone DL again. I am just happy that they stayed off of Shedeur Sanders. There is apparently a lot of baggage with that kid. Not a single team is interested so far. It would be hilarious if he went undrafted.

 

Totally agree with you on picking up Najee's 5th yr option and also not taking SS at 83. If he happens to be on the board at 123, I'd be OK with picking him. Probably unlikely, but he will have something to prove and talent wise, he is a mid rounder, IMO.

 

I watched Johnson's entire career at Iowa. He certainly plays faster than his 40 time shows. YouTube highlights show a fair share of break away runs.
Fans bring up the similarities between him and Warren but I don't see that as a bad thing. Two physical backs who can punish late in games but are by no means "slow". Fans acting like the thunder/lightning approach has worked so well for the Steelers seem to be living in the past. It's been quite some time since Fast Willy.
For all of his faults building a creative offense, one thing Coach Ferentz has always been able to do is get his guys ready for the NFL. I don't feel Johnson will be any different. He will come ready to work.
One last thing, for those who will surely bring up him running behind strong o-lines at Iowa, that was not necessarily the case with last year's team. This was one of the first years in a long time where you didn't see an Iowa lineman in the first few rounds of the draft. Their line wasn't as strong as in the past and with QB issues they had to lean on the run. Every team they played knew it and he still had a fantastic season.
As a Hawkeye fan, I am excited to see what Johnson can bring to this team.

 

My question is can he take the pitch outside?

Arthur Smith loves to have the QB under center and pitching the ball outside to the RB. Every time I saw Najee take a pitch to the outside it was a disaster, and I kept thinking why does Arthur Smith keep running that damn play.

For me this pick was Arthur Smith getting a RB that can run his offense.

 

Has vision which is already a step ahead of Harris

 

Welcome aboard Kaleb, I hope the Steelers use you properly.

 

Does this pick remove Nick Chubb and JK Dobbins from the Steelers post draft free agent plans?