In his first game inside Acrisure Stadium, a place he hopes to call home for a long, long time, Pittsburgh Steelers rookie running back Kaleb Johnson showed real flashes of the promise he had coming out of Iowa.
After a rough performance in the Steelers’ preseason opener in Jacksonville in which Johnson lacked any explosiveness and didn’t play with much feel, the third-round pick bounced back in a big way Saturday night in a 17-14 loss to Tampa Bay.
Playing with more instincts and less timid, trusting his talents, Johnson had a strong bounce-back performance, finishing with 50 yards on 11 carries. He had a nice 14-yard run, hitting the cut-back lane on a zone run, leaning into his vision. Then, in the third quarter he had a pair of 9-yard runs and a 7-yard run, helping set up the game-tying touchdown.
Though he wasn’t satisfied with his performance overall, it was a good one for Johnson, who flashed some of the skills that made him a great fit for the Steelers in the draft. Quarterback Skylar Thompson had the best seat in the house to watch Johnson last night, and speaking with reporters after the loss, he praised Johnson and said he will only get better with experience.
“He’s a hard runner. He is a very gifted runner, can make some good plays, and being a young guy, I think for him, is just being able to get out there and trust himself and trust what he sees and not second-guess himself,” Thompson said of Johnson, according to audio provided by the team. “And definitely felt like he got in the flow of it tonight, seeing holes and running hard and making some plays, ’cause he’s a skilled guy and he’s just gonna continue to get better with the more experience he gets.”
Johnson is not the fastest running back, but he has a great feel for running in a zone scheme. Knowing how to press the line of scrimmage and get linebackers and defenders to flow and commit, he also has the vision to see the cutback lanes developing.
He showed that on his 14-yard run last night, pressing the right side of the line properly and seeing the backside open up, thanks to a great cut block from tight end Connor Heyward, springing him into the second level.
Though the run game as a whole had issues in the first half, leading to Johnson remaining in the game to start the third quarter, the Iowa product got going with the more work he received. He called himself a high-volume runner after the loss to the Buccaneers and believes he starts to get into the flow of the game better with more work he receives.
That seemed to be the case Saturday night. And it will be interesting to see how that works in the regular season as Johnson will share time with Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell, limiting his impact — at least early.
