No matter how high the pedigree or who a player ends up becoming in their NFL career, the rookie season is a large adjustment. From the speed of the game to the NFL playbooks and the rigors of a long 17-game season, a learning curve is inevitable. The Pittsburgh Steelers are hoping that the curve isn’t too steep for third-round RB Kaleb Johnson. And according to his former Iowa teammate Logan Lee, he is already well on his way.
“I’ve been really impressed with him. He’s been awesome. Great teammate so far,” Lee said via Off the Air with Matt Randazzo. “…I’ve been very impressed with the way he’s been handling himself. He is working hard. He is improving a lot. So it’s great to have guys that have been brought up in their football career in a similar way. And they are very mature in the football sense.”
There are suddenly a bunch of Iowa Hawkeyes in the Steelers’ locker room, with three added this offseason. Yahya Black joins Lee in the DL room, and DB Sebastian Castro, with whom Lee was very close at Iowa, signed as an undrafted free agent. He was obviously very familiar with both Castro and Black being on the same defense for multiple years, but he knew less about Johnson being on the opposite side of the ball.
All three former Hawkeyes on defense will be competing for a job and a spot on the 53-man roster. There is no question about Johnson’s spot, but he will be competing for his share of the starting RB job alongside Jaylen Warren.
One of the biggest areas for improvement in Johnson’s game was his pass protection. Especially with 41-year-old QB Aaron Rodgers, pass pro is a critical part of the Steelers trusting Johnson enough to earn significant snaps.
It’s no surprise that they had him working on that a lot throughout the spring. Here’s a clip of those drills via Amanda Godsey on X.
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, a team source within the Steelers’ building was recently raving about Johnson and the “instant impact” he could make on the offense. Hearing that he is working hard and steadily improving after just nine full-team practices in the spring is a good sign of Kaleb Johnson earning a contributing role sooner rather than later.
