The offense of the Pittsburgh Steelers is rather young overall, but the core trio of quarterback Kenny Pickett, running back Najee Harris and wide receiver Diontae Johnson is a rather strong building block for head coach Mike Tomlin.
Pickett is just 25 years old, while Harris is 25 and Johnson is just 26 years old. Together, the trio has a bright future in the Steel City. CBS Sports seems to agree, moving the Steelers’ trio of Pickett, Harris and Johnson to No. 22 this offseason in the offensive triplets ranking, which dropped Tuesday morning.
Last season, the Steelers’ triplets ranked No. 25 overall.
“If there is any team from this group that is most likely to make a significant jump this year, it might be the Steelers,” CBS Sports’ Jared Dubin writes Tuesday morning regarding the Steelers triplets. “Second-year quarterbacks typically take a step forward if they are going to end up being any good, and Pickett has an improved offensive line in front of him as well as both Johnson and George Pickens, plus Allen Robinson, Pat Freiermuth, and Darnell Washington in his pass-catching corps. If he makes a leap, the Steelers can certainly jump into the top half of the league.”
On paper, it’s a really strong trio, one that has a high ceiling overall.
Expectations ahead of his second season are high for Pickett, especially after the way he closed the season.
Pickett was rather impressive in the second half of the year, cutting way down on the turnovers and general mistakes a young quarterback makes. He put together some strong performances in leading the Steelers to a 6-2 record when he was on the field.
Pittsburgh rebounded from a disastrous 2-6 start to finish 9-8, with a handful of wins in the second half of the season coming due to Pickett leading fourth quarter comebacks (Saints and Colts wins) and game-winning drives (Raiders, Ravens). He showed he has that “it” factor in big moments. When the lights get bright and the moment gets tight, he simply didn’t shrink, instead rising to the occasion.
That was big for a young quarterback to go through and grow from. That has him set up for success moving forward and has raised the bar on expectations as well.
Entering his third season in the NFL, Harris has a chance to accomplish something only a handful of running backs have done in league history: rush for 1,000 yards in each of their first three seasons.
Harris rushed for 1,200 yards as a rookie and then 1,034 last season while holding down the No. 1 job in Pittsburgh under head coach Mike Tomlin.
The two 1,000-yard seasons to open his career make him one of just 75 backs in NFL history to accomplish that feat yet concerns surround Harris moving forward due to the inefficiency of his production. Harris, it’s widely believed, is more of a product of volume, rather than skill when it comes to the raw stats.
Even with the production coming the last two seasons due to volume rather than efficiency, I am rather high on Harris entering Year 3. The Steelers beefed up the offensive line again this offseason, and the rushing attack in Pittsburgh was very good down the stretch in the second half of the season. That corresponded with Harris getting healthy and really leaning into his 235-pound frame as a punishing runner, rather than looking to make guys miss.
As for Johnson, he’s coming off of a rather difficult season overall in 2022, hauling in 86 receptions for 882 yards but failing to find the end zone last year. That set an NFL record for most receptions without a touchdown in NFL history. That dip in play can be attested to the changes at quarterback, which caused the offense to have a slow start, but Johnson has to be much, much better.
He had a dominant 2021 season, hauling in 107 passes for 1,161 yards and eight touchdowns. That’s the type of talent he is. With a full offseason working with Pickett, Johnson should be able to get back to that dominant No. 1 receiver level he’s been at throughout his NFL career. Though the Steelers have some other high-end pieces offensively in George Pickens, Pat Freiermuth, Allen Robinson II, Johnson makes the offense go from a passing perspective.
Overall, the triplets for Pittsburgh seem to be properly ranked at No. 22 overall, just behind the Denver Broncos and ahead of the Green Bay Packers. With a strong season though, the group should climb the rankings into the middle of the NFL — potentially even higher.
