People are freaking out over Kaleb Johnson's slow start

He doesn’t fit in a zone based system very well. He is a damn good running back. Do not be surprised if he does very well in the chargers power/gap scheme. Assuming of course he can still see

 

The man never lost a yard even with an ENTIRE defense on him lol. But never mind that for now.

You don’t think that Najee Harris would’ve truck rolled all over these last two defenses? The big Crimson tide back would’ve hit those gigantic holes with power n force and an entire D better be there to stop him. Would’ve been short work, if allowed to be out there at all. He’s tier one against scrubs that won’t play come game one.

U disagree?

 

I’ll be the last one to be surprised.

 

Your first sentence is definitely the driving force. He wasn't particularly efficient even in a scheme that favored him, so there was no sense in trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. His future in the NFL is going to be interesting though. The team that picked him up spent their first round pick on a back that fills his exact role, so I doubt he is going to get a lot of carries this year barring injury to Hampton. Harris is a good pass blocker and he has decent hands, but he would be a terrible third down back since he lacks explosion or shiftiness of any kind. He definitely has no future in that role.... It is going to be interesting to see where he ends up since he kinda feels out of place when he's not a volume runner, but he just isn't good enough for a team to invest in him as their starting volume back.

To put it bluntly, I won't be surprised if he sucks in LA. Not because it isn't a good spot for him to play well, but because his usage is going to put him in position to fail. He's a guy that gets better as the game goes on. He isn't that guy that offers spark in short bunches. If he's not getting 15-17 carries a game, I think it is going to be hard for him to get his groove going. Honestly if he gets 7 or less carries a game, it wouldn't surprise me if he averages 3.6 ypc or less. Now, if Hampton gets hurt for a stretch, I could see Harris averaging like 4.1 or 4.2 ypc and a healthy amount of TD's on an offense that will feed him the rock and give him the ball inside the 5. It is really going to depend on that.

His best fit for the remainder of his career will be to latch onto a team that has a RB1 that is that explosive smaller guy like Gibbs or Trey'Veon Henderson. He could be a David Montgomery type that gets his 12ish carries a game and gets all the short yardage and goal line work while Gibbs gets his 18-20 touches in the run and pass game. If Henderson catches on like I think he is going to, it could make a lot of sense for a team like the Pats to employ a similar situation there with Harris. That is where he will best thrive. If he ends up being a back up RB that sits behind a better volume back, then he will quickly fall out of favor and bounce around the league for a few years before falling out completely.

 

They could have had him cheap with the fifth-year option and they would have been able to use that third-round pick elsewhere. Shrugs.

 

He's great when there is a big obvious hole, no doubt. Powerful.

 

That's a hell of a lot of projection for a team that is supposedly going for it with Rodgers this year.

 

going for what ???

 

KJ isn't better because he hasn't done nothing but struggle in some preseason games .

 

Idk, Kaleb's 11 carries for 50 yards (4.5ypc) would have been more efficient in ypc than 12 of the 18 games Harris started last season. 13/18 in 2023, 13/17 in 2022, and 14/18 in 2021.

I'm certainly not ready to say he's "better" than Harris (he hasn't even played in a real game)... but to say that he "struggled" in preseason games is a misnomer. If yesterday was "struggling" for Kaleb Johnson, then Najee Harris "struggled" in 73% of his 71 career starts.

Johnson needs to play more decisive (which in turn will make him play quicker). But if he can do good work in down and less than 2 (which he has shown already in preseason) and create himself some running lanes and cutbacks (which he has also shown some of), then I don't see why he can't be a solid runner. He certainly has some work to do (particularly in the pass game both receiving and blocking), but I think he should be just fine.

 

Let’s give the guy at least his rookie season to see what he can or can’t offer.

 

I would settle for a playoff win. They put a hell of a lot of money into older players for this season for them to potentially blow it by creating holes at running back and receiver and trying to fill them with projections.

 

I see the membership roster in the Najee Harris fan club is still holding steady at 2

 

You're really trying to pump up some stats from a freaking preseason game , get back to me when Johnson rushes for 1,000 yards in 4 straight years.

 

While I was a little concerned for Kaleb's performance in game 2 preseason, it's not near time to make a judgement.
He's playing preseason with backups against backups.
I do see his fundamentals need work in the pass protection schema but that usually comes with reps.

The Steelers are funny about how they pick their RB's.
Johnson to me is a Harris clone. Big guy, not blazing fast, a drop off in pass catching skills but an upside to vision.
Johnson barring a bust scenario, has some years to define his career. I hope it turns out well.
I would like the Steelers to look at the draft sometime in the future and grab one of those guys that really are a threat to take it to the house.
But I don't think the needle is in the meltdown, it's more in the green where what we have are capable.

I'm more in tune with QB and finding the guy to put that concern to bed for the next decade.
Hopefully, that's in 2026.

 

Najee wouldn't be RB3 with this group like Kaleb is that's for sure, Bettis made it to the hall of fame averaging 3.9 YPC .

 

That's some tough love. Bettis? Really?
I do hope Kaleb is what we hope for... but I don't know what group he is in yet.

So in College,
Jonhson ran for 2779 yds, 30 TDs at 5.5 yds/carry
Harris ran for 3,843 yards, 46 TDs at 6.0 clip. He more than doubled Johnson rec'g with 781 yds and 11 tds.

So coming out of college, they both are in the same ballpark.

Harris has put up 1,000 yards season since he's been in the NFL, though I would agree that he has not been able to 'put the team on his back' and get a win.
Though the Asterisk * is that He was in Matt Canada's fake offense.
Excuses aside, Harris was a great locker room guy but never really reached his full potential (Many scouts touted him as the next Adrian Peterson.)

Johnson gets a little better coordinator, maybe he knows how to tap Kalebs full potential better. I am certainly rooting for that.

 

You're the one trying to bash him for averaging 3.9 YPC, I just gave you an example of another good RB who did the same. Remind me again of the only RB in Steelers history to rush for over 1,000 yards in his first four years with the team .