The Steelers have plenty of reasons to give Kaleb Johnson another shot in 2026, and maybe the biggest one is simple: they still don’t really know what they have.
Johnson arrived in Pittsburgh with real buzz after the Steelers took him in the third round, No. 83 overall, in the 2025 NFL Draft. That reaction made sense.
At Iowa, he piled up 2,779 rushing yards, 508 carries and 32 total touchdowns over three seasons. In 2024 alone, he led the Big Ten in rushing yards and touchdowns, and his downhill style looked tailor-made for a team that had just moved on from Najee Harris.
For a moment, it looked like a clean fit. A new back, a new identity, and a franchise looking for a fresh answer in the run game.
Then the rookie season happened.
Johnson barely got a foothold last year, and the turning point came early with that Week 2 muffed kickoff return against the Seattle Seahawks. From there, the leash got shorter, the opportunities dried up, and the usage never really recovered. He finished with 28 carries, 69 rushing yards and no touchdowns.
That’s a thin line for a player drafted to be part of the future.
Still, there’s reason to think the door is open again. The Steelers are heading into 2026 with an offense that should lean more heavily on balance, especially with Aaron Rodgers’ age making a steady ground game even more important. Last season, Pittsburgh passed on 57.5% of its offensive snaps, and the results were ugly.
The front office has already added Rico Dowdle to work alongside Jaylen Warren, so the backfield picture is crowded. But that doesn’t automatically shut Johnson out. If anything, the Steelers may need him more than they did a year ago, especially with fullback Riley Nowakowski in the mix to help create cleaner running lanes.
Johnson remains unproven, but he’s also motivated and still has time to change the story. The Steelers are expected to run a more innovative offense under Mike McCarthy in 2026, and if that plan is going to work, the ground game has to matter.
Whether Johnson gets a meaningful role or just a small bump, the chance is there. And after last season, that chance is exactly what he needs.
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Instead, the conversation around that class has always come back to what might have been. Shazier and Tuitt flashed the kind of talent that can tilt a defense, but their careers were cut short far too soon, leaving Steelers fans to wonder how different the teams path might have been if that group had stayed intact and reached its ceiling. [Read more 🡒]
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Baker Mayfield is the veteran name that keeps surfacing as the kind of option that could let Pittsburgh stay competitive right away. He brings starting experience and the sort of immediate credibility teams look for when they want a quarterback who can step in without a long runway, and he just turned 31, which puts him in the range of a shorter-term answer rather than a franchise reset. If the Steelers are trying to avoid a prolonged search, that sort of path is going to be hard to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Joe Haden Just Said What Steelers Fans Feared About Tomlin Era
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McCarthys first months will be judged as much by the tone he sets in the building as by what happens on Sundays, and early signs from OTAs and minicamp suggest the Steelers have noticed a different level of work. For a franchise that spent nearly two decades under Tomlin, the biggest question now is whether the new regime can bring the kind of professionalism and consistency the organization believes it needs without losing the edge that has long defined Pittsburgh football. [Read more 🡒]