{"id":773968,"date":"2026-02-24T20:03:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/773968\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:03:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:03:21","slug":"steelers-gm-omar-khan-doesnt-hold-back-in-comments-on-rb-kaleb-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/773968\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers GM Omar Khan doesn\u2019t hold back in comments on RB Kaleb Johnson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">When the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Kaleb Johnson in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft, many expected him to play a vital role in the offense behind Jaylen Warren. Instead, veteran Kenneth Gainwell became a focal point, earning team MVP after a tremendous season, while Johnson\u2019s season was defined by a Week 2 special teams gaffe that cost the Steelers a win over the eventual Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Johnson finished the year with just 69 yards on 28 carries. Needless to say, that\u2019s not what Pittsburgh had in mind when they took him out of Iowa. General manager Omar Khan was asked about Johnson\u2019s performance, noting that it was a disappointing rookie year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201dObviously, what you guys saw on the field was disappointing,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FarabaughFB\/status\/2026354211408003229?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">Khan said via Nick Farabaugh<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s got to be better, but we see it on the practice field. We knew what he did in college, and I\u2019d expect Kaleb to turn the corner.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The jury is still out on Johnson, as he is only entering his second season. Should the Steelers be unable to bring Gainwell back, Johnson would likely jump to the No. 2 spot and be given the chance to prove he is a capable back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Let us know what you think in the comments. Be sure to bookmark Behind the Steel Curtain for all the latest news, breakdowns, and more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Kaleb Johnson in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft, many expected&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":773969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[7,6,520,57,2374,2375,2360,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-773968","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-pittsburgh","11":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","12":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers-news","13":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers-roster","14":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","15":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116127400642411974","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773968","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=773968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}