Kaleb Johnson has all the potential in the world to be an every-down running back in the NFL, but he has one major hurdle to clear for that to be possible. His pass protection is a work in progress coming out of Iowa, and he’s been working hard to rapidly improve. He may already be showing big progress over the first few padded practices of training camp.
After thoroughly struggling during Wednesday’s first backs on ‘backers drill, Johnson came back on Friday Night Lights and won his reps. RB coach Eddie Faulkner was visibly excited watching his rookie running back step up his performance.
“He was just telling me about my technique and making sure I applied my technique to actual play,” Johnson said via Post-Gazette Sports on YouTube. “I did that and he was really proud of me for it. So I’m just gonna keep doing it and just keep learning.”
The Steelers matched him up against ILB Mark Robinson on Friday. He may not be the biggest-name player on the team, but he looks like an all-world linebacker every year in the backs on ‘backers drill. He runs right through people, but Johnson won back-to-back reps against him.
According to our Alex Kozora’s training camp diary, Robinson eventually got around him on the first rep, but it was late. In a real scenario, that’s probably a win for Kaleb Johnson.
That rep sparked a fight and formed a big scrum among many players on the team. Tomlin had Johnson and Robinson go right back at it the next play, and Johnson mirrored him and decisively won the rep.
It’s a positive sign that Johnson is starting to take techniques learned during practice and applying them to game-like scenarios. Hitting a bag or a weighted medicine ball is one thing, but translating that to a real player with pads and unpredictable movements is another. Still, the same technique applied. Get a low center of gravity, mirror your feet and deliver a punch to help slow down the rush.
That is something that Jaylen Warren has been working on with him a lot after practice. When everybody else heads back to the locker room to end the day, Johnson and Warren have been getting extra pass-pro reps while the veteran helps the rookie work on his punch. That extra work is already paying off.
Now, he just needs to continue proving it.
