Kaleb Johnson

[feltdizz]

If you aren’t getting better at a position, then its a bad move.

[NorthCoast]

yeah.. that’s my point. While the contract was ill timed (didn’t need to do it for another year) it didn’t set them back since they won a SB 3 years later.

Steelers were fortunate Gurley saved them from themselves:

The Pittsburgh Steelers nearly pulled off a trade for a big-name running back and former All-Pro. During an interview with the 25 10 Show, former Los Angeles Rams runner Todd Gurley said he almost ended up in black and gold, but shut down the idea and instead decided to hit free agency.

Gurley said that during his final season with the Rams, he knew the team would either cut or trade him. At the time, the two teams in the running for a trade - in Gurley's mind - where the Steelers and the Buffalo Bills. He wanted to go to neither, and told the team to cut him and make him a free agent.
"I knew they were either going to cut me or they was going to try and trade me,” Gurley said. "If they were going to try and trade me, they said something like Buffalo or Pittsburgh. I’m like, ‘**** no. Cut me.’ But yeah, I knew something was going to happen."
At the time, Gurley was in the middle of a four-year, $60 million deal with the Rams. He didn't see half of the contract, being cut in 2019 after knee issues arose, killing his speed and eventually ending the career of a two-time All-Pro and former Offensive Rookie of the Year.
In 2017 and 2018, he rushed for over 1,200 yards and led the league in rushing touchdowns both seasons. In 2019, he averaged just 3.8 yards per carry and finished with 857 rushing yards.
Instead of going to Pittsburgh or Buffalo, Gurley eventually signed a deal with the Atlanta Falcons. In his only season with the team, he rushed for 678 yards and nine touchdowns. He did not play the following season and decided to retire at the age of 27.

At the time of the trade idea, the Steelers were heading into the final year of James Connor's contract, and could've looked at Gurley as a replacement option afterward. Instead, the team drafted Alabama running back Najee Harris in 2021, who's turned out pretty well, rushing for over 1,000 yards in his first three seasons.

[WindyCitySteel]

wouldn’t take much to accomplish that

I don’t know, Conner has had a nice career and Najee did the best he could behind a bad OL.

[WindyCitySteel]

What worries me about Kaleb Johnson i when you watch the tape, he had huge holes you could drive semi trucks through, & also he runs high like Dickerson. Let's hope he's Eric Dickerson!

Maybe on a couple highlights, but he faced the most stacked boxes by far of any back, Iowa had zero passing threat.

[WindyCitySteel]

If you aren’t getting better at a position, then its a bad move.

Even if it’s a lateral move, they got cheaper and younger at the position with less draft capital invested.

[Northern_Blitz]

If you aren’t getting better at a position, then its a bad move.

I think this is certainly true for QB.

For RB, I think it's pretty "meh" because so many guys are around the middle of the distribution. Which is why they are so easy to churn them.

So a push here would be OK.

Or even if Johnson is worse, but the team is better at running because Warren gets more work because we have fewer Najee runs that are exactly at the success line and not a yard further, that's better. Especially if it comes with a couple of explosive runs that go for TDs. Those big TD runs are worth so many 3.3 yarders. Especially since we're a team that seems to always be in close games. Note: I doubt these big runs are going to come from Warren. He's had a lot of work to date. And while I think he's more likely to break one than Najee, he's not really a threat for huge plays either.

[LPMAN]

Wait. You are asking a 3rd round pick to be better than a 1st round pick?

(sarcasm off... I agree. The idea was to upgrade the position, not to be status quo)

As Felt already stated, if you are not getting better at the position then it was a bad move to let Najee walk & draft another RB....read the sracasm line after i posted.....

[LPMAN]

Last year Johnson averaged 6.4 yards per rush, had numerous 10+ yard runs and played on an 8-5 Iowa team vs. good competition. He did it vs. more stacked boxes than most backs faced because Iowa was not explosive offensively. This is very good.

He did not play with an all star OL ( not Alabama's ) either.

If you understand all of the above, you see why I had a late first round grade on the man. High YPR , good competition faced, playing with an aveage OL, = a player @ RB!


I get it that he is unlikely to take runs 30+ yards to distance, but such runs are rare and rare and require say 4.4 speed or better.

Okay -- the man is a chain mover who lived in the end zone! His vision is excellent and he follows his blocker well. He picks the right hole and goes at it hard. A durable back. He doesn't dance, nor does he have good open field moves.

We had issues punching it last year. Enter Johnson wit his 21 TD's rushing.

Oh by that way he did not fumble last year.

I think he and Howard were draft day steals.

I'd like to believe you , but all the tape i saw on Johnson were crater sized holes. Looked like Iowa OL is pretty good to me.

[hackjam]

If you aren’t getting better at a position, then its a bad move.

So settle for mediocrity? It's not like we're replacing Walter Payton here... It's entirely within the realm of possibility that Kaleb Johnson is better than Najee this year. I mean heck, Najee's new team drafted a RB in round 1. Not exactly a vote of confidence in him.

Harris' 5th year option would have cost roughly the same as Kaleb's entire rookie deal. And while Najee is a known quantity, that's his biggest problem. He was never going to get better. People around here dump all over Pat Freiermuth but Najee is pretty much in that same low end starter tier.

The decision making is sound, and the results in the fall won't change that. If you want the results to change, then the inputs have to change.

[NorthCoast]

So settle for mediocrity? It's not like we're replacing Walter Payton here... It's entirely within the realm of possibility that Kaleb Johnson is better than Najee this year. I mean heck, Najee's new team drafted a RB in round 1. Not exactly a vote of confidence in him.

Harris' 5th year option would have cost roughly the same as Kaleb's entire rookie deal. And while Najee is a known quantity, that's his biggest problem. He was never going to get better. People around here dump all over Pat Freiermuth but Najee is pretty much in that same low end starter tier.

The decision making is sound, and the results in the fall won't change that. If you want the results to change, then the inputs have to change.

Good post.

[LPMAN]

So settle for mediocrity? It's not like we're replacing Walter Payton here... It's entirely within the realm of possibility that Kaleb Johnson is better than Najee this year. I mean heck, Najee's new team drafted a RB in round 1. Not exactly a vote of confidence in him.

Harris' 5th year option would have cost roughly the same as Kaleb's entire rookie deal. And while Najee is a known quantity, that's his biggest problem. He was never going to get better. People around here dump all over Pat Freiermuth but Najee is pretty much in that same low end starter tier.

The decision making is sound, and the results in the fall won't change that. If you want the results to change, then the inputs have to change.

If Najee is medicore ( which i don't neccesarily disagreee with), then a 3rd round RB should be able to match that mediocrity. I wasn't against drafting a RB, but i felt Najee's fifth year option was cheap enough to keep him around another year. Since Najee's slowness & vision were his biggest weaknesses i would have thought we would have drafted someone faster with great vision like RJ Harvey. To me it seems we just used a draft pick to pretty much stay the same. Hopefully i'm wrong.

[feltdizz]

So settle for mediocrity? It's not like we're replacing Walter Payton here... It's entirely within the realm of possibility that Kaleb Johnson is better than Najee this year. I mean heck, Najee's new team drafted a RB in round 1. Not exactly a vote of confidence in him.

Harris' 5th year option would have cost roughly the same as Kaleb's entire rookie deal. And while Najee is a known quantity, that's his biggest problem. He was never going to get better. People around here dump all over Pat Freiermuth but Najee is pretty much in that same low end starter tier.

The decision making is sound, and the results in the fall won't change that. If you want the results to change, then the inputs have to change.

if Johnson isn’t better than Najee it means we are still mediocre at the position. How is that a good thing?

[hawaiiansteel]

if Johnson isn’t better than Najee it means we are still mediocre at the position. How is that a good thing?

Johnson is cheaper, which allows us to use that freed up money to help improve another position.

[hackjam]

if Johnson isn’t better than Najee it means we are still mediocre at the position. How is that a good thing?

It's like having a spouse who you kind of hate but staying because you know what you're getting versus moving on and giving yourself the opportunity to find something better. A couple of attempts may fall flat, but if you don't move on, better is never in the cards.

[Northern_Blitz]

if Johnson isn’t better than Najee it means we are still mediocre at the position. How is that a good thing?

Warren+Johnson can be better than Najee+Warren even if Johnson is just a push or slight decrease.

Particularly if we're thinking about value.

And it's still unclear what "better" means to people who are making the argument that Johnson has to be "better" than Najee for the decision to be a good one.

Without defining what "better" means, it will be impossible to revisit the comment and evaluate whether it was right or not.