Ollie Gordon II ended up in Miami, but for a while he was convinced Pittsburgh might be the destination.
The Dolphins running back said on Terron Armstead’s "The Set" show that his draft path felt like it was narrowing to two teams by the time the 2025 NFL Draft arrived. The reason was simple: the Steelers and Dolphins were the last two places he visited for top-30 workouts.
"I would say it was out of the Dolphins and the Steelers," Gordon said. "Because those were my last two 30 visits I had. It happened to be that I had just [gotten] to Pittsburgh, and Miami contacted my agent and they were like, 'Let's bring him out for a 30 visit.'"
Pittsburgh had already brought in nine running backs for top-30 visits last year, and in the end it used a third-round pick on Kaleb Johnson. Gordon was still on the board until the sixth round, when Miami grabbed him.
Neither rookie delivered much in year one. Johnson finished with 78 yards on 29 touches, while Gordon put up 231 yards and four touchdowns on 77 touches.
Gordon’s total production was better, but the efficiency never really followed. He averaged 2.8 yards per carry. Johnson wasn’t much better in a smaller role, sitting at 2.5 yards per attempt.
Opportunities were limited for both players, too. Johnson was stuck behind Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell, while Gordon had to share the backfield with Devon Achane.
The two backs also fit a similar mold. Both are bigger, downhill runners whose game is built more on power and strength than elusiveness or burst.
At the time, Pittsburgh’s move for Johnson made sense. He was headed into Arthur Smith’s zone-running system, the same kind of setup that worked well for him at Iowa, and there was a real thought he could become the long-term answer at the position with Warren scheduled for free agency after the 2025 season.
That plan changed when Warren later signed a two-year, $11.9 million extension. Add in Gainwell’s emergence and Johnson’s rough rookie year, and the third-round pick quickly faded into the background.
Johnson did show flashes during the offseason program in May and June, but there’s still no guarantee he makes the 53-man roster under new head coach Mike McCarthy unless he takes a real step forward in training camp and the preseason.
He’s only 22 and still has time to develop. Even so, Pittsburgh may wind up looking back at that draft decision and wondering whether it could have simply waited until the end of Day 3 and still landed a back like Gordon.
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