The love for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ selection of Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson at No. 83 overall in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft continues to roll in.
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This time, Pro Football Focus draft analyst Trevor Sikkema is joining in on the praise. In a piece for PFF.com Wednesday morning, Sikkema named Johnson his favorite selection of the Steelers in the entire draft.
“I was lower on Johnson on my big board than other analysts, but getting him at pick No. 83 was good value,” Sikkema writes. “It is also a great style fit, as Johnson earned an 82.6 PFF rushing grade behind zone blocking schemes in 2024 and the Steelers ran zone 58.32% of the time in 2024 under offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.”
The fit is an outstanding one for Johnson, who excelled in his one season as a starter at Iowa in a zone-rushing attack. Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith loves to run the ball in his zone scheme, and the fit of Najee Harris in that zone scheme wasn’t all that great during the 2024 season.
Now, Johnson steps in as a great fit in the scheme, and a great value for the Steelers in the draft.
He’s another big, physical running back. At the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine, Johnson measured in at 6010, 224 pounds and ran a 4.57 40-yard dash, solid numbers for his height and weight.
Johnson was outstanding in 2024 for the Hawkeyes, rushing for 1,537 yards and 21 touchdowns on 240 carries, leading the Big Ten in rushing by a wide margin, too. He also caught 22 passes for 188 yards and two touchdowns, showing he can do it all.
He turns 22 in August and has only had one year of a heavy workload, so there is some concern there. But outside of that, he fits the mold for the Steelers and feels like a perfect fit, which Smith called him following the selection during a session with the media last Friday night.
That 58.32% zone-rushing attempts from the Steelers are sure to increase in 2025, especially with Johnson profiling as the lead back for the Black and Gold. It’s a great fit on paper, and it should be a great fit on the field, where Johnson should quickly become a fan favorite due to his play style.
In fact, one former NFL running back in Chase Edmonds, during an appearance on Good Morning Football on NFL Network Tuesday, compared Johnson to former NFL All-Pro running back Arian Foster, stating that they run the same way. The size and speed check out, too.
If Johnson can be even a fraction as good as Foster was during his heyday with the Houston Texans, where he was leading the NFL in rushing and touchdowns and was a first- and second-team All-Pro twice, the Steelers will be in real business with their third-round pick.
