Steelers rookie ready to make doubters eat their words after 40 time flop

When the Pittsburgh Steelers ran to the podium to turn their card in for Kaleb Johnson with the No. 83 pick in the third round, it was met with a mixed bag of emotions. Johnson was a household name, but fans quickly remembered that this was the same guy who made them cringe with a 4.57 official 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine.

The timed speed was bad; there's no getting around that. But don't be fooled into thinking that makes Johnson a slow running back.

When you put on the tape, you see a silky-smooth runner who excels on pitches and toss plays in a wide zone offense. While Johnson lacks elite wiggle at and behind the line of scrimmage, he instantly becomes a nightmare once he gets to the second level.

On film, you see a running back with tremendous build-up speed and can glide past smaller defensive backs in the open field and down the sideline. But is Johnson really a 4.57 guy? There's evidence to support that he's much faster than this.

Pittsburgh Steelers running back Kaleb Johnson is faster than his 40-yard dash time suggests

We know that a 4.57 40-yard dash isn't considered fast for a running back. This puts Kaleb Johnson in just the 46th percentile among all running backs who have tested at the NFL Combine since 1999, per Mockdraftable's database, and his 10-yard split (1.62) ranks in the 24th percentile.

However, this isn't the 'say all, end all'. According to Steelers.com's Dale Lolley, Johnson clocked in at 22 miles per hour on the GPS.

"New Steelers running back Kaleb Johnson's 40 time of 4.57 seconds is deceptive," Lolley posted on X. "He has reached 22 mph per GPS measurements onfield. That translates to something in the 4.3s. And there are only a handful of NFL players, including new Steelers WR DK Metcalf, who have hit 22 mph."

Despite Johnson's forgettable 40 time, it's mind-boggling to see that he clocked as fast a DK Metcalf on the GPS. Interestingly, Metcalf ran an official 4.33 at the 2019 NFL Combine. This comes closer to lining up with what we saw on tape than his pedestrian 40-yard dash would suggest.

A player doesn't average 6.4 yards per carry with over 1,500 rushing yards as a junior in the Big Ten unless he's got some speed to his game. This isn't Najee Harris 2.0; this is a player who can stride away from defenders in the open field.

It's not always going to look pretty from Kaleb Johnson, but if you still think he's a slow running back after reading this article, I would beg you to go put on his tape at Iowa from the 2024 season. Johnson has more juice than most fans realize, and he's going to prove a lot of doubters wrong in the NFL.