With the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2022 season over, the team finishing above .500 but failing to make the postseason, we have turned our attention to the offseason. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on broader contexts, reflecting on a player’s development, either positively or negatively, over the course of the season. Other evaluations will reflect only one immediate event or trend. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: RB Jaylen Warren
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: The second-year running back is coming into this season not only experienced, but also motivated and unsatisfied. Still feeling the need to earn his place and prove he belongs, he has looked to be in great shape during OTAs, including bulking up his frame.
Unfortunately for Steelers fans who may be harboring any delusions of finding Dalvin Cook in the black and gold any time soon, it continues to appear as though the top two positions in Pittsburgh’s backfield are already firmly filled.
Najee Harris is the top dog, of course, but coming in just behind him is Jaylen Warren, the second-year former college free agent who managed to not only win a roster spot last season but also a role in the offense. He became the first rookie undrafted free agent in quite some years to put up 500-plus yards from scrimmage in 2022, and he can conceivably deliver even more this year.
Warren only got 77 carries last season, but he was seeing less of a workload early on. From week eight on, he had six games in which he got six or more carries, including two with double-digit totes. It likely would have been more if an injury during that time didn’t rob him of some snaps.
Also on the board for 33 receptions as a rookie, Warren discussed earlier this offseason his sense that the Steelers are going to want to use him more in the passing game. And he’ll certainly be looking to get into the end zone more than the one time he managed in 2022.
Last season showed not just the team but Warren himself that he is capable of delivering everything that the Steelers need out of him, whether it’s running the ball between the tackles or outside, making a catch, breaking a tackle, or picking up a blitzer.
One thing he’s not about to do is take his position for granted, however. To that end, he’s been proactive about getting better on his own, improving his conditioning this offseason and adding some more muscle to his frame. He should prove to be even more fun for defenders to tackle this year.
