Short of a desire to see a change at offensive coordinator, arguably the hottest topic among Pittsburgh Steelers fans concerns the running back position. More specifically, it’s a matter of how the load should be shared between Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren.
Harris is a former first-round pick with elite pedigree. Though he is the only running back in team history to record 1,000-yard seasons rushing in each of his first two years, he has not taken over games consistently. Many feel the team could get more by making Warren the featured back. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk isn’t convinced—not for the tangible but for the intangible factors.
“I really think that Najee Harris is the featured back because of his leadership and because of his physicality, and he plays in the way that Mike Tomlin wants everyone to play”, he told Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller on 93.7 The Fan this week. “He fights for every blade of grass. He’s got that old-school Steelers mentality”.
“Yes, Warren’s got more burst, more acceleration, it’s obvious every time they play”, he added. “But Harris has that grit and toughness and all those cliches that you want every player on the field to have”.
Florio credited Harris as a player who “busts his ass” in a way that Tomlin finds desirable, even if he might not get the same yardage with the same blocking that other backs might. “That influences the other players and is one of the reasons why they’ve had games that they should’ve lost but they find a way to win because they keep punching you in the mouth over and over again until you cry ‘Uncle’”.
Certainly, there is a correlation between Harris’ most successful games and the Steelers being successful. They have a 9-3-1 record, for example, in games in which he rushes for 80-plus yards. Yet at the same time, he has only rushed for 80-plus yards 13 times in 40 career games, including the postseason. He knows as well as anybody that the offense is hungry for playmakers right now, and he needs to be one of them.
“And it’s not tangible, it’s not conducive to analytics or PFF grades”, Florio said in working through why he feels Harris is the right choice as the Steelers’ primary back. “It’s football, and it’s a mentality, and I think that’s what Najee Harris possesses and that’s what Mike Tomlin wants”.
I do believe it’s what Tomlin wants, and certainly Harris brings a leadership quality with him, including within his play style on the field. He does offer a level of physicality beyond what Warren can offer, though the latter is no slouch in that area.
So far this season, the two backs are not worlds apart beyond usage. Harris has gotten about twice as many carries for about twice as many yards and about twice as many first downs with a nearly identical run success rate . They gain zero yards or fewer at roughly the same rate, though Warren picks up 10-plus yards slightly more frequently.
On the whole, based on broad results through five weeks, there isn’t a compelling reason for one to start over the other, in my opinion. Neither has separated himself from the other, so until one does, the Steelers ought to continue to platoon them, leaning on one over the other based on what in-game circumstances dictate.
