Upon arriving at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe for training camp, Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris spoke out again about the current state of the running back market, but clarified he has no “vendetta” against the Steelers or the way he’s been treated in Pittsburgh. The video was posted to Twitter by Chris Adamski of TribLive.
“With this team, I have nothing wrong. No vendetta versus the Steelers or nothing like that. I really like this organization. When it’s my time to talk about that, I will, but right now I’m just speaking on behalf of all running backs,” Harris said. “They have no security. After this year, what, they’re gonna do the same thing again next year probably. It’s not right. And the teams know what they’re doing. The teams know exactly what they’re doing.”
Harris was recently on a Zoom call organized by Los Angeles Chargers running back Austin Ekeler that discussed the state of the running back market. That came in the wake of Josh Jacobs, Tony Pollard and Saquon Barkley failing to agree with long-term deals with their respective organizations after being franchise tagged.
As a whole, running backs are being devalued across the league due to how easy it can be to replace them and their shorter career spans. It’s rare that a second contract works out with a running back, so teams are content to get their five to six years out of a player and move onto the next one.
“You’re trying to utilize as much as you can, get as much as you can out of us for cheap. And then go get another back or something and try to do the same thing,” Harris said about the owner’s mindsets when it comes to paying running backs.
It’s a brutal business, and running backs are feeling the wrath of it right now. There aren’t a lot of easy options for running backs, and whatever happens is going to have to be done during the next CBA negotiations. Whatever concessions the running backs are willing to make to hit free agency sooner or give themselves a chance for a higher earning potential are going to have to be echoed by other position groups though, so there’s really no easy solution.
As a former first-round pick, Harris is eligible for the fifth-year option, which Pittsburgh would have to exercise after this season. After that, he can be franchise tagged twice, meaning the Steelers could have his rights for seven seasons before he becomes eligible for free agency.
The average career length for running backs in the NFL is 2.57 years, and even good starters don’t usually last beyond seven to eight years before they stop being productive. So for guys like Harris down the line and Barkley and Jacobs now, they just don’t have a ton of leverage because the position has been so devalued.
It’s going to be interesting to see what happens regarding the market down the line, but the conversation is going to find its way to Pittsburgh soon with Harris’ contract situation coming to a head as soon as this offseason.
