Steelers’ running backs have a lot of questions according to PFF

As the 2025 NFL offseason progresses into the summer months, there will constantly be a barrage of lists and rankings from various outlets. While some fans will have preferred places where they look for particular rankings, others will just avoid the information altogether.

After previously reporting on the members of the Pittsburgh Steelers who landed in the top 32 players at various positions according to Pro Football Focus (PFF), now it is time to look at several position groups as a whole and where they rank across the NFL. I know there are many who like to criticize PFF rankings, with me being one of them, it doesn’t mean that their information is always incorrect. While they used rankings for some of their reasoning when looking at players within the position groups, team scores from 2024 were not their ultimate deciding factor and instead it was the opinion of the various authors depending on which position group was being covered.

Whenever I cover various things from PFF, I often give the disclaimer reminding people that their grades are merely an opinion. One thing PFF should be commended on is that they collect an immense amount of data, particularly looking at each player on every snap, in order to form their opinion. But more data doesn’t automatically deliver a correct opinion. Regardless, it is still a great point of discussion to see where the Pittsburgh Steelers rank and the various positional groups.

Next up, let’s look at PFF’s rankings of all running back groups where the Steelers have a lot of room to grow.

26. Pittsburgh Steelers

Pittsburgh retained Jaylen Warren despite his career-low 64.3 PFF overall grade last season. He presents a viable option but has never taken on a starting workload in the NFL. Former Eagle Kenneth Gainwell also joined the team in free agency, though he’s earned a paltry 54.3 PFF overall grade over the past two seasons.

The brightest ray of hope may be third-round rookie Kaleb Johnson, who earned an 86.7 PFF rushing grade last season and should be a good fit in Arthur Smith’s zone run scheme.

With no Steelers running back landing in the top 32 of individual players put out earlier this offseason by PFF, it’s no surprise the entire unit ended up towards the bottom of the NFL. Jaylen Warren is unproven as someone handling a heavy work load, despite PFF constantly screwing up his phenomenal pass protection and calling it disastrous as they simply don’t understand how running backs are supposed to pass protect in the way their grading system works. New acquisition Kenneth Gainwell received no love from PFF as the lowest scored running back of those who met the snap qualifications in 2024. It’s not like the Steelers were expecting to get a lot of love from PFF at this position group.

It was interesting to see PFF already showing praise for Steelers rookie running back Kaleb Johnson. Whether or not that equates to Steelers success is what is ultimately important, not how PFF views him. This could be said about all of the Steelers running backs.

Looking at where the Steelers landed in the AFC North, shockingly they were in second place. But the gap was about as much as it could be from first to second. The Baltimore Ravens hold the top rushing attack in the NFL according to PFF, ahead of the top rushing team in 2024 of the Philadelphia Eagles who came in fourth place behind the Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons. Still, it’s no surprise as it’s safe to say Baltimore has the best running game in the division at this time.

With the Steelers coming in 26th, it is surprising that they still beat out the other two AFC North teams. The Cincinnati Bengals came in just behind the Steelers at 27th as PFF is not optimistic about starting running back Chase Brown or the depth behind him. As for the Cleveland Browns, they came in 29th with their tandem of rookies in Quinshon Judkins and Dylan Sampson. So despite the Steelers landing in the bottom quarter of the league, they ended up having a lot of company from their Ohio neighbors.

Other position groups covered:

Receivers
Defensive Line