After losing RB Najee Harris in free agency, the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Iowa RB Kaleb Johnson in the third round, and Johnson is expected to play a key role along with Jaylen Warren in Pittsburgh’s backfield. While Johnson was projected by many pundits to be gone by the time the Steelers’ third-round pick rolled around, NFL film guru Greg Cosell isn’t as big a fan of Johnson’s game. On The Ross Tucker Football podcast, Cosell questioned some of Johnson’s traits.
“I thought he was a little bit of a paint-by-number zone runner. And by that I mean, if it’s blocked well, and it was almost all zone at Iowa, that’s what they ran,” Cosell said. “If it’s blocked well, he sees it, he hits it. He’s a big guy, he’s not purely explosive, I don’t think he ran to his size. I didn’t like him as much as some teams did, clearly as much as the Steelers did.”
He did say that if the offensive line can block well and open up holes for Johnson, he can excel in a zone scheme.
“If the O-line is really good and you create those holes for him at the first level, he has a great feel for that. He’s a very, very good zone runner when the zone is kind of presented to him.”
The good news for the Steelers is that they’ll be running plenty of zone under Arthur Smith, and that’s where Johnson can thrive. While some of Cosell’s criticisms were certainly fair, Johnson’s ability to pick up chunk runs brings an explosive element to an offense, even if his explosiveness as a runner isn’t the same as some of the other running backs in the 2025 draft class. I also would disagree a little bit with the notion that Johnson didn’t run to his size, as there are plenty of examples of him running through defenders and falling forward to pick up extra yards.
Given how much zone Iowa ran, it’s fair to question whether Johnson would have success in a scheme that doesn’t prioritize zone as much. But the Steelers will run zone more than they did last year, with Arthur Smith admitting that he had to pivot at times from his preferred scheme.
Pittsburgh’s offensive line is still a bit of a question mark, but the hope is that the unit can thrive, especially with the return of RT Troy Fautanu. A strong offensive line should lead to plenty of opportunities for Johnson to do what he does best, and I think that he’ll wind up being a productive back for Pittsburgh.
