The Pittsburgh Steelers and Najee Harris parted ways this offseason, with the team’s former first-round pick from 2021 leaving in free agency for the Los Angeles Chargers. Just a day later, Pittsburgh signed former Eagles RB Kenneth Gainwell to add depth to the backfield, already having Jaylen Warren and Cordarrelle Patterson coming back from a season ago.
However, Pittsburgh continued to add depth and talent to their running back room by selecting Iowa RB Kaleb Johnson in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft, being a player that OC Arthur Smith believes can help replace Harris’ impact and his touches from a season ago with Warren.
As we head into the summer and with training camp nearly a month away, the running back room looks deep with Johnson, Warren, Gainwell, Patterson, and Trey Sermon all bringing NFL experience to the table. From first glance, it’s easy to look at Sermon as a practice squad candidate with the only real chance of playing time for Pittsburgh this season.
Now, concerning the top four backs in Pittsburgh, it’s fair to expect that Johnson and Warren will receive the most playing time and opportunities. Warren has established himself as a solid complementary back who operates well in the passing game while making the most of his opportunities as a rusher. He’s been Pittsburgh’s go-to, third-down back during his time playing with Harris and brings the element as an explosive runner as well as a pass protector that will help him sustain his role, if not add to it, this season.
Johnson is set up to step into Harris’ role as the early-down big back, having the size (6010, 224 pounds) to handle a workload between the tackles. He represented himself well in that role at Iowa this past season, showcasing a blend of physical running on contact as well as the burst and acceleration that Harris was knocked for not having during his time in Pittsburgh, ripping off some long runs when he got into open grass.
Johnson’s biggest knock on his game comes from a lack of passing game production at the college level, but that’s no fault of his as a player. While conducting a film room earlier for the site, I showed how Johnson has the skill set to contribute far more in the passing game than he did at Iowa, and his role there should increase with more opportunities in the league. Still, it’s safe to assume that Johnson and Warren will exchange early down work to start Johnson’s rookie season, with Warren seeing almost all the third-down work until Pittsburgh feels comfortable with Johnson in that facet of his game before giving him more opportunities on obvious passing downs.
The question then remains how Pittsburgh will likely handle Gainwell and Patterson as Pittsburgh depth options behind their likely lead backs. Gainwell is a smaller back (5090, 200 pounds) and is best suited for more of a change-of-pace role that can contribute as a pass catcher as well. Patterson brings more size to the table (6020, 220 pounds) and has proven to be an effective rusher and receiver during his NFL career, having shown flashes last season against the Colts and the Ravens this past season.
Both Patterson and Gainwell have experience in the kick return game, with Patterson being one of the most accomplished kick returners in NFL history, and he averaged 21.8 yards per return last season for Pittsburgh. Gainwell was also heavily utilized in the kick return game last season, averaging 25.3 yards per return, a career high. With Patterson now 34 years old, Pittsburgh may be looking for a younger player with more juice to take his role on special teams and in the backfield this season, signing Gainwell to compete for the RB3 spot as well as the team’s lead kick returner.
Training camp and the preseason will go a long way in determining who wins the RB3 job, if Pittsburgh decides to keep four backs, or if they decide to move on from one during final roster cutdowns. Gainwell may be the favorite right now, being the new face with youth on his side, but Pittsburgh has held onto Patterson thus far to give him a chance to earn a spot in what should be a deep running back room, bringing various skillsets to the table in 2025.
