The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2025 NFL Draft class was more meat and potatoes than anything else, as GM Omar Khan and head coach Mike Tomlin focused on adding physical, tough players to the roster.
Khan and Tomlin accomplished that goal, adding a pair of run-stuffing defensive linemen in Oregon’s Derrick Harmon and Iowa’s Yahya Black. They also added a physical, downhill linebacker with some NFL bloodlines in Washington’s Carson Bruener and a relentless player in Ohio State OLB Jack Sawyer.
It wasn’t just on the defensive side of the ball, either, where the Steelers added physical, tough players. They also landed Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson and Ohio State quarterback Will Howard, fitting the mold of exactly what the Steelers set out to add to their roster in the draft.
While Johnson fits the style of a Steelers running back, he’s also a great scheme fit for offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s zone-rushing attack and is also the best value pick the Steelers made last weekend. At least, that’s how The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo sees it.
“Johnson was [Dane] Brugler’s No. 3 back and No. 44 player, so when he fell to the third round, Pittsburgh quickly grabbed the effective outside-zone runner, making for a fantastic schematic fit,” DeFabo writes of Johnson as the Steelers’ best value pick. “On a team that already has the 5-foot-8 Jaylen Warren and 5-foot-9 Kenneth Gainwell, Johnson rounds out the room with a bigger runner and addresses an important need for a team that ran the ball fourth most in the NFL last year.
“The perfect scheme fit makes him extra valuable at this spot.”
Leading up to the draft, Johnson was nearly a consensus top-50 talent, one who was expected to come off the board in the first two rounds. While the Steelers brought in Johnson for a pre-draft visit, the belief was that without a second-round pick due to the DK Metcalf trade, they would be unable to land the player who led the Big Ten in rushing in 2024.
But Johnson surprisingly fell and was available at No. 83 overall, leading to the Steelers turning in the draft card with his name on it.
It’s not a surprise that Johnson is getting so much love and attention after landing with the Steelers, both locally and nationally. Within Smith’s zone-rushing attack, Johnson should fit seamlessly, considering that’s the same scheme he played in at Iowa.
Kaleb Johnson was outstanding in 2024, rushing for 1,537 yards and 21 touchdowns on 240 carries, leading the Big Ten in rushing by a wide margin, too. He also caught 22 passes for 188 yards and two touchdowns, showing he can do it all.
He’s another big, physical running back. At the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine, Johnson measured in at 6010, 224 pounds and ran a 4.57 40-yard dash, solid numbers for his height and weight. He also turns just 22 in August and has only had one year of a heavy workload, so there is some concern there. But outside of that, he fits the mold for the Steelers and feels like a perfect fit, which Smith called him during a session with the media right after the selection.
With all the praise the Johnson pick is getting, all eyes will be on him when the Steelers hit the field this offseason in OTAs, minicamp and then training camp. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him force his way into the starting role in the Steelers’ backfield.
