Pittsburgh Steelers RB Najee Harris is heading into his third NFL season, having topped the 1,000-yard rushing mark in his first two seasons. However, 2023 looks like it could Harris’ best season yet as the running back has a beefed-up offensive line in front of him with the additions of OG Isaac Seumalo and OT Broderick Jones as well as TE Darnell Washington, who is a dominant run blocker in his own right at the tight end position. The Steelers have also made it known that they want to play bully ball in 2023, imposing their will on teams with a power run game and a stingy defense, setting up Harris to potentially have a big year.
Harris, while speaking with Pat Kirwan and Jim Miller on SiriusXM NFL Radio Friday night, talked about the team’s new additions and his overall expectations for the Steelers this coming season. When asked what he could do better this season compared to a season ago, Harris mentioned that the Lisfranc injury he suffered in training camp last season really hampered him physically as well as mentally from getting off to a fast start in 2022.
“My conditioning wasn’t the best because I missed almost four weeks ’cause of my Lisfranc and I couldn’t run,” Harris said on SiriusXM NFL Radio. “So, the conditioning was not at its best. The details were not at the best either. Details what I mean by that, I mean was like my aiming points, my reads and stuff like that just because I missed so many weeks of practice that I came in kind of just slow because I mean, I didn’t have time. It was timing. I wasn’t working with O-line, like I didn’t have that bonding period like how we are now.”
Harris hurt his foot right as training camp was getting underway last season, suffering a Lisfranc injury that kept him out of preseason action until the team’s finale against the Detroit Lions. The injury cost Harris nearly four weeks of practice time to get up-to-speed with the rest of the offense and gel with the offensive line, as he mentioned earlier. The time off also affected Harris’ conditioning, which could be seen during the early stages of the 2022 season, not looking like the same runner we saw close out 2021.
HC Mike Tomlin mentioned that the missed time during training camp and the preseason was a big cause for Harris’ slow start but said Harris got better with each day after coming back from the Lisfranc. That he did, closing out 2022 with seven games of over 80 rushing yards after the bye week.
With Harris fully healthy heading into 2023 and the offensive line looking the way it is, there’s a good chance that Harris will pick up right where he left off last season: being the feature back for a Steelers offense that wants to run it down their opponents’ throats.
