{"id":200849,"date":"2026-05-23T19:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T19:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/200849\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T19:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T19:28:12","slug":"steelers-fringe-running-back-impressing-at-otas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/200849\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers fringe running back impressing at OTAs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Pittsburgh Steelers quietly have a very good running back room. While they won\u2019t get the mass attention of Saquon Barkley or Bijan Robinson, Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle are the only duo in the NFL t0 have both rushed for 1,000 yards in 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Because of the one-two punch Pittsburgh has in its backfield, you\u2019d be forgiven to forget about 2025 third-round pick Kaleb Johnson. The Iowa product was seldom used as a rookie, with the lowlight of his first NFL campaign being a fumble on a kick return that was recovered in the end zone for a touchdown against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 2.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Despite a lackluster first year, Johnson has been getting real work in during OTAs, even taking first-team reps. Jim Wexell of the Steel City Insider podcast noted that Johnson has looked \u201call business\u201d as he begins his second season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cKaleb Johnson has gotten first-team reps, and he looks like he\u2019s been all business,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jimwexell\/status\/2057912758100783329?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">Wexell said<\/a>. \u201cHe looks like a guy who wants to make amends\u2026 As a rookie, he could not pick up blitzes, and his pass-catching looks a lot better, I will tell you that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">While Dowdle and Warren will certainly be the top two backs, Johnson can establish a role for himself in the offense with a strong showing this summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Let us know what you think in the comments. Be sure to bookmark Behind the Steel Curtain for all the latest news, breakdowns, and more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers quietly have a very good running back room. While they won\u2019t get the mass attention&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74,4853,7106],"class_list":["post-200849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-steelers-news","tag-pittsburgh-steelers-roster"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}