No, Kaleb Johnson probably won't be RB1. But he also probably won't be RB2.

Picked up on some small intel within the Steelers' world yesterday, amid the team's second session of minicamp at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, that Johnson's impressed the coaches and management far beyond what a third-round pick in an NFL Draft tends to do in the first summer that follows.

What's that mean?

Not sure, exactly, and they might not be, either, at this stage. The kid's still got to go through the standard Saint Vincent stress test in proving he can protect his quarterback, so be sure no one's about to declare anything in the interim. If he can't keep Aaron Rodgers vertical, he'll have as many carries as you or I will.

But barring some blow-up on this count, he'll be fine. He was a sound blocker at Iowa, and he's been acing every other test along the way.

I had a good talk with Johnson about his adjustments:

Comes across as pretty likable, huh?

Well, so's the guy he's citing as doing most of the mentoring to date: Jaylen Warren. Which shouldn't surprise anyone even though it's Warren whose snaps would suffer if Johnson were to rise up right away. Warren's wound that way. 

Warren's a terrific back in his own right and, really, this ought to be his breakout. He's finally out of Najee Harris' anointed-from-Day-1 shadow here, he's got the clean bill of health everyone always wants to see from him, he's 26 and entering his prime, and here he should go.

But a funny thing seems to happen anytime it's brought up that he's now the guy.

A few weeks back, I'd asked Mike Tomlin if he felt Warren could carry the Steelers' load at the position, and the quick reply was, "Certainly." Followed by the almost-as-quick qualifier that Warren "unfortunately struggled through some injuries" early last season and all that.

It wasn't the first time, either. Fair or not, that's how Warren's seen on the inside.

Here's how else he's seen: Not as RB1.

Arthur Smith was asked before the second session, plain and simple, if Warren's now RB1, and this was the verbatim response: "We've got a lot of weapons back there. They've all got different skill sets. They're explosive players, in a little different ways. Just talking about Kaleb, he's a different style player than Jaylen. We added Kenneth Gainwell. There's a lot of depth in that room. It'll work itself out. How we deploy them, that's what we'll get into at Latrobe."

I'm not the only one who didn't detect a yes in there, right?

Look, I'm not complaining. Definitely not picking a favorite. The more depth, the more versatility, the more dynamic the running game becomes. Including Gainwell, who might be best equipped of the three to find the edge on some of Smith's preferred outside sprints.

But I'm also not about to pretend it isn't damned exciting for the Steelers to potentially run into something special at the position.