Former Steelers RB Reveals What ENDED His Career in Pittsburgh
Rob Gregson explains what Kaleb Johnson says went wrong in Pittsburgh.
Video Transcript
Caleb Johnson just confirmed what ended his Steelers career.
I'm Rob Graves of NBC Sports Pittsburgh.
Please be sure to like, follow, subscribe, stay up to date with all of the news this season because we are almost here, and nothing signals that more than roster cutdown day.
Of course, during roster cutdown weekend, the Pittsburgh Steelers traded former third-round pick Caleb Johnson to the Green Bay Packers.
They got back a late-round pick in twenty twenty-eight.
And Caleb Johnson has already made his debut, ramping up, practicing, and speaking to the media ahead of week one for the Green Bay Packers.
And when asked about what went wrong in Pittsburgh, Johnson said, quote, "At first, it was my mental errors that killed it for me.
The kickoff killed me.
I give all the respect to the Steelers for giving me a chance, but now it's go Pack go."
And if you watch the video, which you can see in this post from Vince, Caleb Johnson was almost distraught even thinking about it, like he had PTSD about the situation, which he probably does because we know that when Caleb Johnson was playing the Seattle Seahawks and he botched that kickoff return and it essentially ended the game, it pretty much ended his Steelers career.
Let's be honest.
I mean, up to that point, it's not like he had a really good showing in training camp, wasn't really good in the preseason either.
They tried to get him in the mix with kickoff returns and things of that nature, and he botches that and all it took was Mike Tomlin look at him and say, "Look, buddy, you are going in the doghouse for the season."
Obviously, he was inactive a lot.
A lot of people, myself included, thought that, Hey, a new staff, a new regime, a new scheme, maybe, would help Caleb Johnson.
It did nothing but hurt him.
By the end of his, his time in Pittsburgh, he was playing five snaps in preseason games.
He was the sixth running back up in drills at practice.
The writing was very clearly on the wall.
If he wasn't going to be released, he was going to be traded.
The fact that the Pittsburgh Steelers were able to recoup any draft value for Caleb Johnson is a win in my book.
But I do understand the sentiment that, hey, you traded Broderick Jones a first-round pick, you traded Caleb Johnson a third-round pick, and you didn't get, obviously, that draft capital in return.
Those guys didn't pan out.
It's time for Omar Khan to start hitting on some of these more valued picks.
Now, in Omar Khan's defense, I could look at the twenty twenty-three draft class and, outside of Broderick Jones, name four guys who are key contributors who have been paid or, or are going to get paid, in the case of Joey Porter Jr., for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
So, very interesting situation, very interesting comments from Caleb Johnson.
You guys, though, let me know in the comments below, do you think it was right to move on from Johnson so early in his career?
