Steelers rookie returner Kaleb Johnson made an extremely costly mistake during Pittsburgh's Week 2 matchup vs. the Seahawks. He seemed to have forgotten the NFL's new kickoff rules as he was making a play on special teams. His fingers touched the ball, and he let the ball land in the endzone, in which a Seattle player grabbed the ball and subsequently scored a touchdown.
It was an embarrassing moment for Johnson, to say the least.
Johnson's mistake led to coach Mike Tomlin deciding to not let him be in that role for a while, Tomlin said on Tuesday. Former Steelers Ben Roethlisberger took it a step further while speaking on the situation on his podcast Footbahlin' this week, saying that it's possible Johnson could be benched for the rest of the season because of his gaffe.
"After last week not getting much action, and this week, that happening. Unless injuries or something happens, we may not see him again the rest of the year," Roethlisberger said. "There's a chance just because I don't want to just call it a 'doghouse,' but that's tough. It's a tough place, a tough situation, but you know the rules."
We'll see if Roethlisberger's suspicions end up being true. On the Steelers' depth chart, Johnson is listed as the third-string running back and the third-string kick returner. Unless the players ahead of him suffer severe injuries, he may not see a lot of playing action in his rookie season. He's only played four snaps across the two games.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Ben Roethlisberger Thinks Steelers Rookie Could Be in Doghouse After Gaffe vs. Seahawks.
