With less than 72 hours remaining before the 2021 NFL Draft gets underway in Cleveland, it seems like the Pittsburgh Steelers are destined to select Alabama running back Najee Harris in the first round 24th overall. If you need more evidence of that, just look at a recent tweet from Seth Walder of ESPN.
According to the ESPN Draft Predictor, there’s a 12% chance Harris is selected at No. 24 in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft. That selection of course currently belongs to the Steelers. According to Walder, no other slot is greater than an 8% chance Harris gets selected.
I’m not sure that Walder’s tweet will surprise many reading this post, however. After all, I don’t think it is possible for the Steelers to have any more fingerprints on Harris during the pre-draft process at this point. They have reportedly been linked to Harris dating all the way back to the Senior Bowl, and there have been multiple reports since then as well that the running back is firmly in a group of two or three players the Steelers are looking to draft in the first round.
It’s been common knowledge for some time now that the Steelers are likely to draft a running back this year, and an early one. They sent the house to see Harris go through the paces at his Pro Day, and that wasn’t surprising to see.
The last time the Steelers drafted a running back in the first round was in 2008, when Rashard Mendenhall was the pick at 23rd overall. That shows that Colbert at least has some sort of history of spending a first-round draft pick on a running back, even though it’s been 13 years since he has done so. On Monday, Colbert gave every indication that he’s still open to drafting a running back in the first round during the team’s pre-draft press conference.
We shall now wait and see if Harris winds up being the Steelers’ first round selection. If he is, I’m not too sure it would surprise many. It almost seems like it is destiny at this point. But stranger things have happened. A tiny chance exists that a team picks Harris before the Steelers’ 24th overall selection. At least that’s what the ESPN Draft Predictor indicates.
