{"id":109143,"date":"2025-06-06T17:52:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T17:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/109143\/"},"modified":"2025-06-06T17:52:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T17:52:11","slug":"rising-pittsburgh-steelers-rookie-turning-heads-in-2025-otas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/109143\/","title":{"rendered":"Rising Pittsburgh Steelers rookie turning heads in 2025 OTAs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everything with the Pittsburgh Steelers has been centered<\/a> on Aaron Rodgers lately. But the team has other irons in the fire<\/a>. Also, the Steelers have a rising rookie who is turning heads in the team\u2019s 2025 OTAs.<\/p>\n

The Steelers went heavy defense early in the draft, taking three players on that side of the ball with their first four picks. But the guy they got in the second round, running back Kaleb Johnson, has been making the organization take notice.<\/p>\n

Johnson is a big back at 6-foot-1 and 224 pounds. He also has a nose for the end zone with 21 scores for Iowa last season.<\/p>\n

Steelers RB Kaleb Johnson ready to rock?\"Iowa\u00a9 Julia Hansen\/Iowa City Press-Citizen \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Things are going well, but Johnson said he knows he must get better at protecting the quarterback. That\u2019s especially true with an aging Rodgers now entrenched behind center. Johnson said he\u2019s trying to learn fast<\/a>, according to pennlive.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like it\u2019s very new because at Iowa I was really not like really not focused on technique,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cBut it really wasn\u2019t bringing the hips. It was really strike, hit, make sure the quarterback\u2019s cool to make a throw. But now it\u2019s more here, it\u2019s more technique, it\u2019s more formative, and stuff like that here. So I\u2019m just gotta get my stuff down, so that\u2019s why I\u2019m here to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson figures to get the ball quite a bit on early downs. But Jaylen Warren seems to be the best bet for more third-down work. And it centers on Warren\u2019s ability to get things done correctly in pass protection. But Johnson has kept his sight set high.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanna get better,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI wanna be one of the best out here. So I\u2019m just gonna keep striving to do my great and keep learning from the vets, like Jonathan Ward and Jaylen Waren.\u201d<\/p>\n

Article Continues BelowConfidence not lacking for RB Kaleb Johnson<\/p>\n

One good thing about Johnson is his confidence. It\u2019s something almost every NFL player needs to bring into the league. It doesn\u2019t always stick. But without it, a player can get overwhelmed. It hasn\u2019t been a problem for Johnson, who picked a pair of high-level comparisons for his game<\/a>, according to the Steelers\u2019 YouTube page via nfl.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I’m a versatile back,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI could be a Derrick Henry back, or I could be a Dalvin Cook back. And I feel like that’s what separates me from a lot of backs in the league and in this class that I came into because I just feel like, you know, overall. I feel like I’m a fast back, and I could be a strong back, also catch the ball in the backfield, and be reliable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson said he communicated with Henry during the draft process.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve been texting him and he’s been texting me,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cHe’s been very motivating and really just telling me the ins and outs of the league and stuff like that. So, that was very exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the questions about Johnson was his speed. However, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin<\/a> said it wasn\u2019t an issue in the decision<\/a> to make the draft pick, according to the Steelers\u2019 YouTube page via yahoo.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t question his speed whatsoever watching the video \u2014 and oftentimes that\u2019s the case,\u201d Tomlin said. \u201cYou can watch video and be really excited about someone\u2019s speed, or you can go to the combine and get excited by their 40 time. His speed was not in question on the video. He broke a lot of long runs in the Big Ten, as we talked about earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Everything with the Pittsburgh Steelers has been centered on Aaron Rodgers lately. But the team has other irons…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2055],"tags":[7,1255,6,18732,520,57,2360,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-109143","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-mike-tomlin","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-nfl-editorials","12":"tag-pittsburgh","13":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","14":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","15":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114637697504405421","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}