There has been an increasing level of enthusiasm building, really throughout the past 13 months, behind Pittsburgh Steelers RB Jaylen Warren. At the time a rookie college free agent, he burst upon the scene near the start of training camp, and he’s only picked up steam since then, punctuating his rise with a 62-yard touchdown run in the preseason a few weeks back.
But he’s still behind former first-round pick Najee Harris, the first player in team history to rush for 1,000-plus yards in each of his first two seasons. And that is where he is going to stay this year, according to Dale Lolley. Though he writes for Steelers.com, his remarks were made via Xwitter.
“This narrative that Jaylen Warren is going to ‘surpass’ Najee Harris as the Steelers’ lead back is simply not true”, he wrote. “Both will have their roles. Harris is the No. 1. Warren is the third-down back. Both will be valuable. But Warren isn’t pushing past Harris”.
Lolley is referring to reports such as those by Dan Graziano and Greg Cosell who have either relayed whispered or made the argument themselves that Warren should, or could, at some point over the course of the season take on a role larger than Harris’.
Harris recorded 313 touches last season versus Warren’s 105. Leading up to his injury in Week 11, Warren workload was rising, averaging around 14 touches per contest in the two games that immediately preceded it. He also averaged nearly 11 touches per game over the course of the final four games of the season. Harris averaged 21 in the same stretch, however.
There is a large and growing number of individuals, fans and analysts alike, who are coming to the belief that Warren is the more talented back with higher upside, if they have not already firmly arrived to that conclusion.
There are certainly some things one can safely argue that he does better, such as more consistently hitting holes with urgency. He is also the better pass protector on the whole, but he has never had to take on a full workload before, so we don’t know what that looks like.
“I love Jaylen. He’s a good player. But his role is his role”, Lolley added in a follow-up response Xweet to one user. “Harris is a workhorse back. I’m old enough to remember when Bill Cowher tried to replace his workhorse, Jerome Bettis, with Richard Huntley and Amos Zereoue. Those guys were fine in their roles. Not so much feature guys”.
The thing is, though, this is a question that we ultimately cannot answer at this time. I think Lolley is right in the sense that the plan going into this season is for Harris to be the featured back with Warren a robust complementary number two, though not quite the proverbial ‘1B’.
But that can change, I believe, based upon results. There is no compelling reason why Tomlin and the offensive coaching staff would be reluctant to ride the hot hand should one of their hands get hot. If Warren is the best back on this team, it will show itself this year, and the playing time will be amended accordingly in response to production.
