About nine months ago, hype surrounded Kaleb Johnson coming into training camp. Some even thought he had the potential to take carries away from Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell. Unfortunately, that never came close to fruition. Johnson was decent in the preseason, but had a bad gaffe on a kickoff return, resulting in a touchdown in a Week 2 loss.
It became even more complicated on Monday when the Steelers signed another running back, Travis Homer. Although Homer hasn’t made a huge offensive impact, his special teams ability gives him an advantage over Johnson. However, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo doesn’t expect Johnson’s roster spot to be in jeopardy.
“In no way is this a threat to Kaleb Johnson actually being on the team. They want to see him develop, they want to see him get better. And listen, they have to find out about him,” Fittipaldo said Tuesday on his North Shore Drive podcast.
A different coaching staff hand-picked Johnson last year. But it’s still the same front office, and Omar Khan probably wants Johnson to succeed as badly as Johnson does himself. No team wants to jettison a player they drafted in the third round the previous season.
However, Kaleb Johnson has to prove something. He didn’t get enough carries to build momentum last year. And he didn’t capitalize on the chances he got: Johnson ran 28 times for 2.5 yards per carry, never found the end zone, and moved the chains just twice. His kickoff mistake took him off special teams, and Gainwell’s emergence hurt his chances of playing offensive snaps.
Fittipaldo doesn’t think his spot is in jeopardy now, but next offseason may be different if he doesn’t develop.
“This is gonna be a really big four months for Kaleb Johnson, leading up to the 2026 season. He has to show the coaches that he can actually do something,” Fittipaldo said. “He’s in no danger of getting cut this season. But certainly, if he doesn’t show anything this coming season, then yeah, I think the potential would be there to move on.”
Johnson won’t get carries easily. Rico Dowdle has plenty of experience with Mike McCarthy and could become the lead back in this offense. Warren has also proven himself significantly more than Johnson has. And with Travis Homer’s ability on special teams, the Steelers could get away with him becoming the third running back if they wanted to.
If Kaleb Johnson doesn’t notably improve, the Steelers have reasons to move on. Both Warren and Dowdle are under contract through the 2027 season. The Steelers have enough talent at the position without Johnson. He’ll have his chance in 2026. But he’ll have to play well enough to make sure it won’t be his last season in Pittsburgh.
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