Player: RB Kaleb Johnson
Stock Value: Purchased
Reasoning: The Steelers replaced veteran RB Najee Harris with Kaleb Johnson, via the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft. While he will compete for playing time with Jaylen Warren, he should be a significant contributor immediately. A lot of his game mirrors well with OC Arthur Smith’s philosophy, and he has future starter potential.
If the Steelers knew they would draft Kaleb Johnson in the third round, would they have given Jaylen Warren a second-round tender? Now that we have the recent veteran transactions out of the way, we can return to introducing the draft class.
Having tackled first-round pick Derrick Harmon already, we are up to Kaleb Johnson, the Steelers’ third-round running back. With no second-round pick, they made him their second selection and prioritized the position. By most estimates, Johnson represented good value. Projections had him going earlier in the draft, in the second round.
After addressing their highest priority on their board in the first round, the Steelers went all in on running back with their second pick. Obviously, the quality of the draft class helped drive that discussion. But that also helped inform their decision to move on from Najee Harris and sign only Kenneth Gainwell. They knew they could land somebody like Johnson outside of the first round, and they did.
The big criticism with Kaleb Johnson is his 40-yard dash time, but he clearly plays faster than he tests. For their part, the Steelers described him as an explosive back. He isn’t going to fool anyone into thinking he’s Bijan Robinson, but he can move sufficiently enough.
More importantly, at least for the present, Johnson fits what the Steelers want to do in the running game. Perhaps even better than Jaylen Warren does, which raises an important question. Will we see the Steelers shift to Johnson over Warren in rushing situations as the season progresses?
With the new league year underway and the Steelers turning their roster over, it’s once again time to “take stock”. It took a while, but we finally saw some of that change the team talked about after the season ended. Certainly, the move to trade for WR DK Metcalf qualifies as a change, not to mention the accompanying contract.
There is still a long way to go before we know what this Steelers team is going to look like. The dust is settled on both free agency and the 2025 NFL Draft. What other moves might the team make, perhaps unexpected acquisitions or departures? If they traded for one player, they could certainly trade for another, or trade one away. This is a Steelers team starving for postseason success, but how desperate are they for a playoff win in 2025?
