Kaleb Johnson arrived in Green Bay carrying more than a new jersey. Two days after the Packers sent a 2028 sixth-round pick to Pittsburgh for the second-year running back, Johnson stood in front of reporters and explained, without excuse, why his first NFL chapter closed so quickly.
“At first, it was my mental errors that killed it for me. The kickoff killed me,” Johnson said.
He followed the admission with a note of gratitude and a clean break: “I give all the respect to the Steelers for giving me a chance but now its Go, Pack, Go.”
The kickoff he mentioned happened in Week 2 of 2025 against Seattle. Under the league’s dynamic kickoff rules, a ball Johnson failed to field bounced into the end zone and was recovered for a touchdown.
He later told the Packers’ website the play lingered. “I feel like that kickoff killed me,” he said. “From then on it was just downhill from there.” Johnson never returned another kickoff that season and finished with only 51 offensive snaps across ten games: 28 carries for 69 yards, one reception, and eight kickoff returns for 190 yards.
Those numbers sat far below the production that made him a third-round pick. At Iowa in 2024 he rushed for 1,537 yards and 21 touchdowns, averaging 6.4 yards per carry and earning first-team All-America honors.
Pittsburgh had liked the same traits Green Bay’s personnel staff had evaluated before the draft: size (6-foot-1, 224 pounds), vision, and familiarity with outside-zone concepts. Offensive coordinator Tim Lester, who once worked as a Packers senior analyst, had installed a similar scheme in Iowa City.
The trade lands at a moment of genuine opportunity in Green Bay. Josh Jacobs was placed on the commissioner’s exempt list and cannot practice or play while the legal process continues.
General manager Brian Gutekunst said the club hopes Jacobs returns this season, yet the immediate backfield consists of MarShawn Lloyd, Chris Brooks, and now Johnson. Gutekunst confirmed the organization’s prior interest.
“We liked him a lot,” he said, noting that Johnson’s rookie year simply never produced the impact either side expected.
Johnson treated the move as ordinary football business rather than a rescue. He credited Pittsburgh for the first chance, owned the mistakes that followed, and turned his attention to learning a new offense that already contains schematic echoes of his college success.
A former third-round pick who never found a rhythm in one city now has a cleaner slate and a thinner depth chart in another. Whether the mental errors stay in the past will decide how large that slate becomes.
Be the first to comment