{"id":89563,"date":"2025-05-30T02:50:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T02:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/89563\/"},"modified":"2025-05-30T02:50:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T02:50:14","slug":"kaleb-johnson-steelers-rookie-who-stood-out-most-during-otas-says-fittipaldo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/89563\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaleb Johnson Steelers’ Rookie Who ‘Stood Out’ Most During OTAs, Says Fittipaldo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Until the pads come on, running backs are difficult to evaluate and any performance during the Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 OTAs should be taken with caution. But third-round pick Kaleb Johnson is turning heads, at least of the media who watch them. Joining 93.7 The Fan Thursday, the PPG\u2019s Ray Fittipaldo pointed to Johnson as the rookie who\u2019s impressed most.<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably Kaleb Johnson, just because he has his hands on the ball more,\u201d he told The Fan\u2019s Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller.<\/a> \u201cWhat limited things we were able to see with 11 on 11, and they don\u2019t do a lot of 11 on 11 at OTAs. It\u2019s really 75 percent individual periods and then will come together for a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fair to temper evaluations of any player this time of year. Not only because Pittsburgh has had just three full-team practices, but also because the low-key nature of those practices. No pads, no contact, and as Fittipaldo mentions, limited 11-on-11 opportunities. Evaluating players like Johnson won\u2019t truly start until August during the Steelers\u2019 first padded training camp practice.<\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s an encouraging start to Johnson\u2019s career. Landing him in the third round was strong value. He should make an immediate impact on the Steelers\u2019 offense and run game in search of more consistent splash plays. At 6\u20191 and roughly 230 pounds, he has the size of an old-school Steelers\u2019 back with the speed of a new-age player.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohnson looks the part,\u201d Fittipaldo told the show. \u201cI think he\u2019s gonna be a really good player, and I\u2019m excited to see what that guy can do in training camp. So that\u2019s probably the one draft pick who stood out the most here during the first week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pass protection is one area of emphasis<\/a> for Johnson and a trait untested in practices like the Steelers\u2019 OTA sessions. Asked to do little of it at Iowa, mostly because he was so valuable running the football, Johnson will need to protect his quarterback, too. Especially if it\u2019s a 41-year-old pocket passer like Aaron Rodgers.<\/p>\n

Twice in camp, Pittsburgh will hold its famed \u201cbacks on \u2018backers drill.\u201d Once during the first padded practice and again during \u201cFriday Night Lights\u201d at a local Latrobe High School.<\/p>\n

Johnson figures to open the season in a timeshare with veteran Jaylen Warren, who will likely open the season atop the Steelers\u2019 depth chart. But in Smith\u2019s system, the designated \u201cstarter\u201d doesn\u2019t mean much. If Johnson proves to be the capable player he\u2019s flashing right now, Pittsburgh won\u2019t be afraid to give him plenty of carries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Until the pads come on, running backs are difficult to evaluate and any performance during the Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[8740,7,274,6,520,57,2360,7827,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-89563","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-93-7-the-fan","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-kaleb-johnson","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-pittsburgh","13":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","14":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","15":"tag-ray-fittipaldo","16":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114594514651991293","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89563","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=89563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}