The Pittsburgh Steelers made a roster move on Saturday afternoon ahead of their Week 3 game against the New England Patriots on Sunday and it’s bad news for rookie running back Kaleb Johnson.
The team announced it is elevating running back Trey Sermon from the practice squad for Week 3 and the expectation is Sermon handles kickoff duties with the rookie losing the job following his blunder in Week 2.
Johnson gave the Seattle Seahawks free points last week when he didn’t chase a loose ball he missed on a kickoff, which allowed Seattle to recover it in the end zone for a touchdown.
“Probably not in the short term,” head coach Mike Tomlin said of Johnson returning kicks. “I’m certainly going to give him an opportunity to work his way back from that error. I believe in his talent. He’s a sharp young man. He’s a hard worker. And so you leave the light on for him to give an opportunity to move on. He has to do that. He has to display that with his daily work, and he’s got to earn himself back into the position to be a participant. And so we’ll see where the roads lead us.”
With Johnson now having zero role on the team because he isn’t getting looks in the run game, chances are he’s going to be a healthy scratch for Sunday’s game.
Sermon offers more value than Johnson overall, as he’s capable of playing on both sides of special teams, something the rookie doesn’t do.
There is obviously still plenty of time for Johnson to recover from his nightmare start, but he’s got to get himself out of Tomlin’s dog house first.
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