With the way the Pittsburgh Steelers are constructed heading into the 2023 season, third-year running back Najee Harris appears poised for a big season for the Black and Gold.
That potential breakout season couldn’t come at a better time for Harris, who is coming off of a difficult 2022 season that saw him lose some touches to backup running back Jaylen Warren while dealing with a foot injury.
While he was able to rebound with a very strong second half of the season, cracking the 1,000-yard mark for the second straight year, Harris’ general numbers are a bit alarming, especially his 3.9 yards per carry average for his career to date.
He’s a big name at the position, especially being a former star at Alabama and first-round pick, but for CBS Sports’ Tyler Sullivan, Harris is the most “overvalued” player on the Steelers in 2023.
“Harris has seen a ton of work in his two years in the league. In 34 career regular-season games, he’s logged 579 carries and 115 receptions, giving him a massive 694 touches overall. With that opportunity, the back hasn’t been particularly efficient, averaging 3.9 yards per carry in his career and just 4.2 yards per touch. Harris did seem to get in a better groove in the second half of the year, but still only averaged 4.1 yards per attempt after the Week 9 bye,” Sullivan writes. “The Steelers have routinely gone with a bell cow approach in the backfield where one player receives the lion’s share of the touches and I don’t expect Mike Tomlin to change much in 2023, meaning that Harris should continue seeing a ton of work. With emerging second-year back Jaylen Warren arguably more explosive, Harris possibly dominating the touches again could be a detriment to the offense as a whole.”
Early on in the 2022 season, it was a bit of a detriment for the Steelers to be giving Harris so many touches, especially with him dealing with a foot injury that had him playing with a metal plate in his cleat, limiting mobility and explosiveness overall. Harris was doing his best to deal with the foot injury and play through it, but he was too often caught behind the line of scrimmage being too patient and dancing, trying to avoid contract, rather than leaning into his massive 235-pound build and punishing defenders downhill.
There were growing pains offensively, too, once the Steelers turned to Kenny Pickett as the starter at halftime of the New York Jets matchup in Week 4, but once Harris got healthy after the Week 9 bye, the Steelers’ rushing attack took off.
Pittsburgh went from one of the worst rushing attacks in football to the No. 7 rushing offense in football in the second half of the season.
After the Week 9 bye, the Steelers averaged 141.8 rushing yards per game, a significant increase from the early-season struggles in the run game for Pittsburgh, which needed a new-look offensive line to gel under first-year position coach Pat Meyer.
In the second half of the season, Harris had five games with 4.5 or more yards per carry, including three of 5.0 or more. The rushing attack really took over in the second half of the season, and Harris looked like the first-round back he was expected to be. Pittsburgh only got better around him with the additions of Seumalo and Jones, two guys who excel as run blockers and bring a nastiness in that area.
A key to Harris’ success was that he would just put his head down and barrel forward, punishing defenders in the process. He really leaned on his size and worked downhill, rather than searching for that home run-style run seemingly every single time.
The more work Harris got in the second half of the season, the better he got. Therefore, it’s a bit of a stretch to say it could be a detriment for the Steelers to lean on Harris again, rather than working in Warren more. Warren was really impressive in his rookie season, carving out a role as a third-down back and a change-of-pace guy behind Harris.
Maybe Pittsburgh can get him to 10-12 touches a game, but taking away snaps and touches from Harris seems a bit shortsighted, especially with the style of football the Steelers want to play in 2023. He might be overvalued by Sullivan, but he’s a key piece to Pittsburgh’s success in 2023.
