After a so-so debut, Pittsburgh Steelers rookie RB Kaleb Johnson had a much better performance in the team’s second preseason game Saturday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Johnson had 11 carries for 50 yards and added a nine-yard reception. Second-year offensive tackle Troy Fautanu was impressed with Johnson’s performance at Acrisure Stadium.
“As you can see, Kaleb Johnson is a dude. He’s already a confident guy, you can tell, but the more reps he gets the better he looks. I feel like he was really just cutting it loose today and showed that,” Fautanu said via The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo on Twitter.
As Johnson continues to get more comfortable, the game is going to come more naturally for him. It’s never easy for a rookie during their first in-stadium action, and with a game under his belt, Johnson looked more comfortable as a runner against Tampa Bay. He’s expected to play a big role behind Jaylen Warren in Pittsburgh’s backfield, and with Warren yet to play in the preseason, Johnson has been Pittsburgh’s feature back.
It’s good experience for the third-round pick, and the Steelers are hoping that it’ll lead to an increased comfort level and level of play when the regular season gets underway. Johnson showed good burst on a 14-yard run in the first half, and that’s what the Steelers are expecting to see from him. While he only ran a 4.57 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine, Arthur Smith believes Johnson can add some explosiveness to Pittsburgh’s offense, and his college tape backs that up.
The Steelers will want to see Johnson continue to break off chunk runs, and if the Iowa product can hit the hole as hard as he did on his 14-yard run, he’ll see the field plenty as a rookie. Those are the types of plays that the Steelers will need from their running game this year, and we should see more of it from Johnson as he continues to get comfortable with the speed of the NFL game.
Also, Johnson is running behind an offensive line that he just started working with a few months ago, and he should continue to improve as he acclimates to the group. Fautanu is clearly impressed with what he’s seen so far from Johnson, and if he can build on this performance, the Steelers could wind up having a nice 1-2 punch in the backfield with Johnson and Warren.
