Now entering a contract year after the Pittsburgh Steelers declined his fifth-year option, Najee Harris has a lot at stake in 2024. He will be operating in a new offensive system and looking to prove the Steelers wrong for declining a $6.79 million salary in 2025. He reportedly cut some weight and is looking as agile as ever, which will be a big help with the wide-zone concepts that Arthur Smith is known for in the running game.
The reactions to the fifth-year option decision were mixed. Some were surprised, while others were excited about the prospects of the Steelers making RB Jaylen Warren the primary running back in 2025 and beyond. Sam Monson and Steve Palazzolo of Pro Football Focus released a video via The 33rd Team on Friday going over the most underappreciated player for each team in the AFC North, and Monson gave that distinction to Harris.
“Najee Harris gets viewed as through the lens of he was a first-round running back and he was supposed to fix the run game in Pittsburgh,” Monson said. “As we know, you’re not gonna do that. You can’t get a running back in the first round to fix a run game that’s broken because the offensive line or the system isn’t gonna let it function.
“And that’s what Najee Harris was asked to do. Wasn’t able to do it. Now the Steelers have overhauled that offensive line. I think this is finally the year…we’re finally gonna see the first-round version of Najee Harris because the offensive line has been improved.”
Hall of Fame running back Jerome Bettis expressed a similar sentiment on Thursday this week when he talked about the criticism for Harris being unfair. He described the offensive line play as awful and more or less absolved Harris of blame as a result.
It is hard to argue against that, as the offensive line has been in a tough spot for all three seasons of his career. His rookie season consisted of Dan Moore Jr. (rookie), Kevin Dotson, Kendrick Green (rookie), Trai Turner, and Chukwuma Okorafor. It was not the most inspiring group, especially with some rookies mixed in there.
The first semblance of a functioning offensive line he ran behind was over the back half of the 2023 season after Broderick Jones was inserted at right tackle. His rushing yards per game improved to 72.2 over that stretch and he finished strong over the final three weeks with 104 rushing yards per game and four total touchdowns.
It might not be perfect at the beginning of 2024, but once the offensive line jells with Zach Frazier at center and Troy Fautanu at one of the tackle positions, it should be much improved over the 2023 unit that was actually pretty good on the ground over the second half of the season.
We may finally get to see first-round Najee Harris only for him to become an unrestricted free agent in 2025.
