Every single week, Pittsburgh Steelers coaches are pelted with questions about running back usage. The general theme has been the underlying implication that second-year Jaylen Warren should be playing more than he is—perhaps even more than Najee Harris.
We’ll get to that in a bit, but the point coaches always stress when the subject comes up is the luxury of having two quality backs that you want to get on the field. And when it comes to the Steelers’ approach, offensive coordinator Matt Canada says it’s all driven by one goal.
“All we’re trying to do is win the game during the game”, he told reporters on Thursday, via transcript provided by the team’s media department, “and in the game, if playing [Warren] more is what we do, we do that. As long as they’re full-speed and not tired, we’re playing that.
By and large, the playing time between the two backs this season has not been far from even. Harris has not hit 40 snaps in a game so far, never logging 60 percent of the snaps or more. Warren has not played under 40 percent of the snaps and has never played less than eight fewer snaps in any single game than Harris.
How they’re used does vary, however, with Harris getting more carries and Warren getting more targets and work in pass protection. Harris has 77 carries for 300 yards with one touchdown. Warren has 40 carries for 156 yards and one touchdown, both of them averaging 3.9 yards per attempt.
Warren, however, spends more time on the field in obvious passing situations. He is the go-to target on 3rd-and-long situations, which partly speaks to his 22 receptions on 27 targets for 165 yards. Thirteen of his targets have been on third down, with nine of them being with six-plus yards to go, including five needing 10-plus yards for a first down.
It is Harris who remains the lead runner, however. He has double-digit carries in every game since the season opener. Warren has yet to register 10-plus carries in a game. The last time out, he rushed for 32 yards on six attempts with a score. Harris had 14 carries for 53 yards and a score.
“It isn’t just a gut call”, Canada said about how they determine the workload distribution between the two backs. “If a guy is rolling and hot, we play him”, he added, and we have seen Warren string together plays before. “Over the course of 17 games it’ll probably get to look exactly where we want it to be”.
The question is, how far off the pace is where they want it to be versus where it’s heading? Over a 17-game season, Harris is on pace for 218 attempts for 850 yards with 23 receptions for 147 yards. Warren is pacing toward 113 attempts for 442 yards with 62 receptions for 468 yards.
Obviously, the Steelers want the efficiency numbers to improve, but do those ratios look right? Last season, Harris recorded 272 rushing attempts while Warren had 77, though the workload ratio between the two was becoming less imbalanced as the reason progressed. It will be interesting to see where things stand two months from now.
