The life of the running back hasn’t gotten any easier over the years. Well, at least not when it comes to keeping up financially with the rest of the NFL. With increasingly rare exception, the simple reality is that the position itself has lost a lot of its value as perspectives about its role and those who carry it out have evolved.
Drafting running backs in the first round is no longer popular. We are seeing fewer and fewer teams sign their own stars to lucrative second contracts, and when we do, they often get cut. The Cleveland Browns’ Nick Chubb and the Tennessee Titans’ Derrick Henry seem to be the modern exceptions.
So where does that leave the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Najee Harris? Not in a very good place, Pro Football Focus’ Brad Spielberger believes. That’s the tone of his comments on the third-year back during a recent appearance on 93.7 The Fan with Adam Crowley and Dorin Dickerson, suggesting he’s destined for the franchise tag route Tony Pollard and Josh Jacobs got a taste of this offseason. But it’s not just his situation—it’s also his game, he believes.
“No, he really is not in the same boat” as the elite running backs today, Spielberger said, comparing him to Jacobs, who has consistently graded highly in the site’s system. “He was drafted as an older player. I think they always probably knew that was the path as well. He was 22 and a half, 23 as a rookie. Jacobs was probably 20.
“That’s unfortunately the route that it looks like it’s going for Najee as well”, he added, referring to the fifth-year option and franchise tag path before the team moves on. But would the Steelers do that to Harris?
Well, absolutely they would, if that is what they find makes sense at the time. They almost always make a genuine effort to retain the guys that they really like, but it’s not always financially feasible. And it’s harder to make the numbers work at running back.
Harris is entering his third NFL season. He is already 25 years old. If he plays out his fifth-year option and a franchise tag year, he will already be 28. What kind of player is he going to be on the other side of that?
Chubb is still 27. Henry has been in the league since 2016 but is still 29 years old with seven seasons under his belt. And he’s in the final year of his contract extension that he signed in 2020. So what does that tell you about Harris’ future that Henry is scheduled to be a free agent at 30, if Harris would be turning 29 after six years under a potential fifth-year-option-to-franchise-tag path?
More importantly, how much would he have left in the tank by then, and how much would it be worth to pay for that? He’s already got just about 700 touches under his belt, and yet he hasn’t even produced a true breakout season to this point.
That’s what makes the 2023 season so important for him, and not just because it’s after this year that the Steelers have to decide whether or not to exercise his fifth-year option. While he is set up for the best year of his career, it’s also time for him to show that he can be an elite player when he’s firing on all cylinders—and that he can do that with regularity.
