Mario Puig advised fading Kaleb Johnson at his current 68.7 Underdog ADP because Pittsburgh is expected to lean on Jaylen Warren (98.7 ADP) while Johnson comes off the bench. Puig pointed out that Johnson’s third-round draft capital is being over-weighted by drafters even though he brings little to the two areas that create fantasy points: passing-down snaps and goal-line work. At 6-1/224 with a high center of gravity, Johnson is less effective in short yardage than the 5-8/215 Warren, and he logged almost no third-down reps at Iowa—Lance Zierlein wrote he is "unlikely to be trusted with third-down protection duties." To justify this price Johnson would need to assume nearly the entire 296-touch workload Najee Harris vacated in 2024, a leap Puig considers unrealistic. Meanwhile proven starters such as D'Andre Swift (70.9), Isiah Pacheco (75.0) and Tony Pollard (81.8) are available later. Puig recommended taking only hedge-level exposure, or waiting until Johnson falls past ADP in best-ball drafts.

Beimfohr sees third-round pick Kaleb Johnson as the perfect fit for Mike Tomlin’s preferred sledgehammer style. Tomlin praised Johnson’s lack of “Saturday yards,” noting the Iowa star produced against stacked eight-man boxes all year—valuable given the Steelers’ QB situation will again invite loaded fronts. Johnson’s early-down skill set mirrors Najee Harris but with more juice; Beimfohr believes he could take over the lead-runner role by October while Jaylen Warren remains the pass-game change-up. With Harris entering his fifth-year option debate and the Steelers unlikely to extend him, Johnson has a path to 15-plus touches weekly and league-winning contingent value if Harris breaks down. At a current ADP outside the top 120, Beimfohr is loading up, especially on Najee-faded builds.