The Steelers’ running back room is crowded enough that Kaleb Johnson may already be on the outside looking in.
Pittsburgh is heading into training camp with a handful of roster battles still unsettled, and running back is one of the more interesting ones. There may not be a full-blown free-for-all at the position, but there are still only so many spots to go around.
Johnson, the Steelers’ 2025 third round pick, is the name that stands out most in that mix. The former Iowa Hawkeye was supposed to be a meaningful piece of the offense, but his rookie year never got off the ground. He barely played, and the attempt to ease him into a special teams role did not go well.
That puts him in a tricky spot entering year two. On the surface, a second-year player with his draft status would seem like a safe bet to stick. The deeper look, though, makes his path look a lot less secure.
Pittsburgh’s backfield is already shaped by a pair of players who appear set to handle most of the work. Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle are not being sold as elite stars, but they are productive backs who fit together well. More importantly, if both are healthy, there simply may not be much room left for anyone else on offense.
That leaves Johnson staring at, at best, a third-string role with little chance to carve out meaningful snaps. If he’s going to be active on game days, special teams may be his ticket.
The problem is that he is not the only candidate for that job. Travis Homer brings a proven special teams profile, while Eli Heidenreich is expected to offer solid work there along with some offensive upside.
So Johnson is not just trying to show he can help in that phase - he has to be better at it than players who already fit the role more naturally. That is a tough ask, especially when he has yet to show enough as an offensive player to make himself untouchable.
Unless he looks like a different running back in year two, it is hard to see him making himself uncuttable as an offensive player. Unless he revamps himself as an asset on special teams, his road to making the team will be extremely narrow.
There is still one possible opening: the Steelers could decide to keep four running backs. In that scenario, one of the stronger special teams options could still make the roster and Johnson could hang around with the hope that he develops into the player Pittsburgh thought it was drafting.
For now, though, the outlook is not encouraging. Johnson has been a popular pick to survive roster cuts, but the more you look at the numbers in the room, the shakier that case becomes. He may need a total turnaround this summer just to stay in the conversation.
In Other News...
Why Steelers Fans Suddenly Believe This New Era Could Change Everything
The Steelers are entering a different kind of offseason conversation now that the coaching staff has been reshaped around Mike McCarthy and Patrick Graham. For a fan base that has spent years measuring every move against stability, the appeal is obvious: a fresh voice on the sideline, a new direction on defense, and the sense that the roster could be organized with a more modern, aggressive plan in mind.
Pittsburghs optimism is being fueled by the idea that the changes could pay off on both sides of the ball, with the defense expected to look sharper under Graham and the offense drawing plenty of attention as the pieces come together. The bigger question is whether those changes can actually translate into the kind of leap people around the team are already starting to imagine, because the ceiling being discussed now is far higher than what Steelers fans have been used to hearing. [Read more 🡒]
Ryan Clark Unleashed On ESPN After Stunning Exit
Ryan Clarks exit from ESPN landed with extra force in Pittsburgh, where he remains one of the more recognizable former Steelers voices in national media. The longtime analyst had spent more than a decade at the network and was a regular on NFL programming, so his departure was notable even before he started talking publicly about how it happened.
Clark has since pushed back on the way the move was described, saying on his podcast that he was fired and suggesting there was more going on behind the scenes than a standard round of layoffs. For Steelers fans who followed his post-playing career closely, the bigger question now is what comes next for one of the franchises most outspoken alumni in the NFL media space. [Read more 🡒]
Steelers Just Got A New Reason To Worry About Joey Porter Jr
The Steelers have another cornerback-market development to keep an eye on as they work through the long-term picture with Joey Porter Jr. Christian Gonzalez is in the same draft class as Porter and has quickly become one of the leagues most promising young cover men, which already made him a useful benchmark for any extension talks involving Pittsburghs own rising defender.
Now the Patriots have put a new layer on that conversation by making Gonzalez a contract offer that could reset the top of the position. For the Steelers, that matters because any new standard at cornerback tends to ripple quickly, and Porters camp will have plenty of reason to watch how this plays out as Pittsburgh continues sorting out its next major homegrown deal. [Read more 🡒]