First-round running backs have become increasingly rare, the Pittsburgh Steelers being one of the few to buck that trend by drafting Najee Harris in 2021. Yet debates on his value as a draft pick and his future worth, both with respect to his fifth-year option and a potential extension, remain ongoing.
That makes the 2023 season a critical one for him to show just what he’s worth, first and foremost to his coaches and the guy who signs his checks. The team will have to decide in 2024 whether to pick up his option, and averaging under four yards per carry for his career isn’t helping him. Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette laid out what he feels it would take for Harris to prove his worth this year.
“If I had to pick some numbers off the top of my head, I think if he can get back to 1,200 yards like he did when he was a rookie, I think that would be a good year”, he said recently on 93.7 The Fan with Ron Cook and Joe Starkey. “If he can get 10 touchdowns, and if he can be productive in the passing game as well, 400 yards or so, maybe 40-45 receptions, I think that would be plenty enough for him to have a good season”.
Those numbers are largely driven by workload expectations following the emergence of Jaylen Warren last year, whom Fittipaldo feels should get a similar workload this season as he did in 2022. “They want to take some touches off Najee Harris”, he said. “There’s no reason that he should lead touches in the NFL in every single season. I think you shorten guys’ careers when you do that”.
The value of the running back position is a discussion that has evolved greatly over the past couple of decades. Outside of the emphasis on the passing game, a re-evaluation of the elements that really make a successful run game work has led many to identify the position as one that is “fungible”—that is, one in which you can more easily plug in an average player and achieve a similar amount of success.
As we just saw yesterday, no team signed any running back to an extension this offseason worth $10 million per season or more, with three of the top players now set to play—or not play—on franchise tags this year.
After rushing for 1,200 yards on 307 carries and catching 74 passes for 467 yards as a rookie in 2021, Harris’ numbers dipped last season. He had nearly 70 fewer touches, though he still hit a four-digit rushing total at 1,034. He was down to 229 receiving yards on 41 catches, though in both years he scored 10 touchdowns, seven rushing and three receiving.
If he can put up numbers similar to that of his rookie season but do so at a more efficient rate, with a lighter workload complemented by Warren, what would that do for the perception of Harris as a top running back in the league? And what will that mean for his financial future in Pittsburgh in the upcoming years?
