Sports talk radio can be entertaining, interesting, hilarious, and even impart actual knowledge from time to time. If you tuned into 93.7 the Fan Monday afternoon for the PM Crew with Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller, you also got to hear two contrasting ideas regarding the Pittsburgh Steelers running backs.
Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette joined the Crew and offered up his thoughts about Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren, especially that he doesn’t feel like there’s much separating the two.
There’s no denying that Warren is a dynamic player as Fittipaldo puts it. He led NFL running backs in expected points added in 2022 despite only touching the ball 105 times. He finished the season averaging 4.9 yards per carry on 77 rushes and 7.6 yards per reception on 28 catches. He picked up 20 first downs on the ground and 14 through the air. Then you go back to his college days between Utah State and Oklahoma State and the explosiveness is there too.
In three college seasons, Warren averaged 5.0 yards per carry with 407 rushes for 2,037 yards and 19 rushing touchdowns. He also averaged 9.8 yards per reception with 45 catches for 44o yards. You can see that the stats bear out that Warren can gain a chunk of yards when he’s got the ball in his hands.
So what does that have to do with hearing contrasting opinions on The Fan regarding Steelers’ running backs? Well, earlier in the PM Crew’s show, they had Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio on, and he believes that Najee Harris is in line for a big year and his fifth-year option.
It’s certainly not impossible for Harris to have a breakout year in his third season and for Warren to be a dynamic player offering similar value to the offense. In fact, the Steelers would probably love that. This discussion only involves contrasting opinions when you factor in the fifth-year option for Harris.
Harris is eligible for a fifth-year option in 2024 that would lock him in for the 2025 season at $8.5 million with a potential rise to $10 million if he makes the Pro Bowl a second time. As Florio pointed out on his radio appearance, $8.5 million for a really productive player is relatively inexpensive. However, if you have Warren and Harris offering similar value to the offense, that would certainly give Pittsburgh’s front office a reason to not spend up to $10 million for one extra year of Harris.
However, that’s a decision that faces general manager Omar Khan and his staff in 2024. In the meantime, there’s the 2023 season to play. If both Florio and Fittipaldo’s opinions become fact in terms of the on-the-field stuff, this season could be a lot of fun for Steelers fans and the running game while opposing defenses rip their collective hair out.
