In the simplest of terms, Kaleb Johnson’s rookie season did not go how he had hoped. Johnson didn’t get much of a chance out of the gate behind Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell. Then in Week 2, he made a brutal mistake that gave the Seahawks a touchdown in a game that went down to the wire and the Steelers ultimately lost.
The spare opportunities the third-round pick got moving forward, he didn’t take advantage of. But according to his new head coach, Johnson’s story in Pittsburgh is far from over.
“I’m aware of their past experience. But, you know, this is like a Catholic operation,” Mike McCarthy said Tuesday at the NFL owners meetings via Steelers.com. “Everybody’s got a clean slate. Let’s just get to work. I mean, you have to do that with young guys. So I’m looking forward, and I understood what happened on special teams. So I’ve heard all that. But he’s a young man, that obviously, his draft value is what we think of him.”
When a rookie doesn’t live up to expectations in his first season, his standing can become even more tenuous when a new coaching staff comes in. Since McCarthy and his staff didn’t select Johnson, there was a possibility they wouldn’t be high on him. And signing Rico Dowdle was a quick sign that the Steelers knew they needed more help at running back.
But McCarthy seems to be taking the opposite approach. He didn’t select Johnson, but he certainly seems willing to see what he has in the former Iowa star.
“I’m gonna challenge him to be a three-down player, challenge him to be a special teams player. All those things are a part of being a young running back in this league,” McCarthy said.
It’s going to be hard for Johnson to carve out much of a role behind Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle. He’s going to need a strong training camp and preseason to really get on the coaches’ radar. And while his touches were few and far between in 2025, he’s simply got to be more efficient than the 2.5 yards he averaged on 25 carries.
That said, there still is a lot of promise to Johnson’s game. Coming out of college, the Steelers loved his build, burst, vision, and capabilities in short-yardage situations. He didn’t show it enough in 2025, but those tools wouldn’t have just disappeared.
Now it’s McCarthy and his staff’s job to unlock them. Kaleb Johnson has a long way to go to become a three-down back, and he’ll need to get better in all aspects of the passing game to do so. But McCarthy doesn’t sound like he’ll be giving up on Johnson anytime soon.
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