There’s no defending Pittsburgh Steelers rookie RB Kaleb Johnson. His error Sunday at a 31-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks was costly, letting a kickoff hit off his hands and bounce into the end zone. Instead of racing back to recover it for a touchback, he let the football go and the Seahawks jump on it for a touchdown. But Johnson’s teammates are making clear they have his back to help him through an ugly start to his career.
“Saying what we say a lot here: travel light,” Warren said via the team’s YouTube channel. “Don’t let the last play affect the next play. Whatever happens, your best plays is your next play. So I know he gonna be good. We all got him. Nothing to panic about.”
Warren’s assumed a mentor role with Johnson. The two walked out together for every training camp practice, earning an Honorable Mention in our “Fast Friends” category of Steelers training camp awards.
After the Steelers dropped their home opener, Aaron Rodgers offered similar encouraging words.
“Kaleb’s a great kid and this is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league,” Rodgers said, also via the team’s YouTube channel. “When you have success early on, you have to learn how to handle success. And when you deal with adversity, you have to learn how to deal with adversity the right way. And you can’t let this get your confidence down, can’t hang your head.
“This is a professional league, and we expect greatness, but we also understand there’s gonna be mistakes and they happen. We’re human and you gotta move on and get better. But he’s a great kid and I know he’ll come to work on Monday and Tuesday and keep his mind sharp.”
Four-time special teams captain Miles Killebrew expressed the same sentiment.
“He’s going to be hard on himself, and we just have to make sure that everyone knows as a unit, we have other’s backs and we believe in him,” he said via the KDKA Extra Point postgame show. “He’s a great player, and I was just sharing with him there’s part of our game that all of us wish we could have back today because we didn’t get it done collectively.”
Rookies making errors are part of a player’s journey. Warren himself told reporters he made lots of them. But Johnson’s was especially egregious not just for the outcome-changing nature of the play but its rarity, too. The FOX broadcast crew said a play like that hadn’t occurred in 45 years. In Pittsburgh, then-rookie RB Barry Foster made a similar error in a 1990 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
After the game, Foster admitted to “blacking out” during the play and mistakenly thinking it was a punt. Like Johnson, the play resulted in a 49ers touchdown, San Francisco scoring plays later in a 27-7 win (kickoffs can’t be advanced once recovered in the field of play). Post-game Sunday, Johnson took responsibility for his blunder.
Foster’s case is an example that Johnson’s career can withstand the moment. Foster went on to become a two-time Pro Bowler, one-time All-Pro, MVP runner-up, and he still holds the Steelers’ single-season record with 1,690 rushing yards. Johnson will aim for more longevity, but it’s a story he should lean on. Johnson will also lean on his teammates, who are ready to prop him up.
