The biggest critique of Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris has been his lack of efficiency, as he’s yet to crack 4.0 yards per carry in either of his first two seasons in the league. During an appearance on Not Just Football with Cameron Heyward, Harris seemed to argue against that idea by saying running backs are the only position that’s penalized for doing their job. He argued that if a back gets a certain number of carries, it’s because it’s what the team needs.
“You could say you rushed for 1,300 yards, 1,200 yards. It’s a good year, right? But if you do that, you got to look at well, how many times you get the ball? Well, dang, it’s affecting his mileage,” Harris said. “You have to run the ball to get yards. My job is to run the ball. I’m just saying, if a guy gets a certain amount of carries, that’s also bad. But the team, that’s what they need.
“We’re the only position that gets penalized for what we’re doing.”
Harris added that the blocking aspect for running backs isn’t taken into account enough. It was more a rant against the decreasing value of running backs as a whole, but when you look at Harris’ career, he’s been a high-volume runner. He’s had over 1,000 yards each of his first two years in the league but on yards per carry totals of 3.9 and 3.8, respectively.
But to his point, he’s gotten the ball so much because it’s what the team needed. He dealt with a Lisfranc injury the first half of last season, but the Steelers needed him to run the ball and be a workhorse because they were dealing with shaky quarterback play and a rookie in Kenny Pickett. In Harris’ rookie season, Ben Roethlisberger’s arm wasn’t what it used to be and they needed to rely on the run game. Harris was probably the most important offensive player that season. He led the NFL in touches, and it was more out of necessity than anything else.
So it’s a fair point to make that he shouldn’t be penalized when he’s doing what’s asked of him and what’s needed from him, and obviously, that extends to running backs as a whole. But it’s also true that this year, behind an improved offensive line and with him fully healthy, it would be good for Harris to improve his efficiency a bit.
He’s been one of the least efficient guys in the league with the amount of carries he gets, and while he’s a big back and a guy who can wear down defenses, just getting to somewhere around 4.2 yards per carry would completely change the narrative around Harris.
Harris does have a lot of mileage on him, something that might be unfair to criticize because, as he said, he’s just doing what the team needs. But if he can increase his efficiency and Jaylen Warren gets some more work sprinkled in, the Steelers backfield will be effective in 2023.
